Dreamcatcher
by NctrnlBst
Summary: CHAPTER 18: Shadow Realm Some times, a dream is not a wish that your heart makes, but rather a locked away memory from a troubled past that, for one reason or another, comes back to haunt you. OCJubilee, Kurmanda, Romy.
1. Bad Dreams, and Wishfull Thinking

Yeah I know that it's a weird title for a fic, but I couldn't think of a good one, so that's what I named it. Maybe I'll change it if I think of one.

This is my attempt at an adventure fic, so here to hoping for the best. First of all, I would like to issue a disclaimer. The OC in this fic is similar to OCs' that I have seen on other people's fics. I just want to say that I had thought up this character before I read their fics, and any resemblance to their OC is purely coincidental. If anyone's read Harpiebird's fics, there is (Or rather will be) a character in one of her fics which will be the exact same character. I gave her that character, and if she chooses to use it, it is because she has my permission to do so. I even changed my character a bit just so that he didn't resemble other people's OCs' so much.

Just so that I don't discourage anyone from reading this fic, I just want to let you know that although this chapter is very dark, it is not reflective on how the rest of the fics will be. So please, don't be scared away by this chapter. I promise that the rest of it won't be this graphic.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :  
  
Gambit is lying unconscious in an abandoned subway tunnel. He slowly stirs, but finds it hard to move. His body aches. He eventually finds the strength to roll over onto his back, when screams echo through the darkness. Gambit tries to sit up, but the slashes in his abdomen and chest make it almost impossible. He rolls over onto his stomach again, and pushes himself up with his hands and knees. His clothes are soaked from lying in his own blood for however long it was that he was knocked out.  
  
The screams echo through the tunnels again. Gambit determines which direction the screams are coming from, and staggers into the darkness. The screams grow louder as he gets closer. Gambit can see a light in the distance, and quickens his pace. He finally reaches the source of the carnage to find bodies everywhere. A group of homeless and malnourished mutants, most of whom were children, were being slaughtered by another group of more powerful mutants. Gambit looks around for something.....Anything that he can charge and throw at the attackers. He picks up a rock, and tries to charge it with kinetic energy, only to double over in pain from the strain on his already weak body.  
  
Gambit looks up from his knees, to watch in horror as the group of attacking mutants literally tearing the weaker mutants apart. In one corner of the abandoned tunnel, Gambit sees a large hairy mutant raping a young girl. Tears fall from Gambit's eyes. His normally mesmerizing black eyes highlighted by his red irises are whacked with pain as he watches that monster have his way with the shrieking girl who Gambit perceives as no older than 16 years of age. The girl turns her head at looks at Gambit. Her eyes red and tear soaked from crying call out to Gambit for help. Must to Gambit's torture, he can barely stand, let alone be of any help to anyone.  
  
Finally bored with his plaything, that beast uses his claws to eviscerate the poor girl making sure not to hit any of her vital organs which would have killed her instantly. She is lying on the ground, the voiced garbled by the blood building in her throat. He stands up looking at his fallen prey, and then turns his head towards Gambit. He gives Gambit a devilish grin as he licks the blood off of his hands like a feral cat.  
  
Gambit reaches down, and grabs a rock. Ignoring the excruciating pain, he charges the rock only to be overcome by pain again. He hunches over in pain and drops the charges rock on the ground next to him. The rock explodes hurling Gambit's tattered body into the air, and landing next to the eviscerated girl.  
  
Gambit turns his head to see that he is face to face with the girl that was helplessly watching. Blood trickles from the corner of her mouth as she struggles to breath. Gambit forces himself into a sitting position, and pulls the girl into his lap in a futile attempt to comfort her in what is surly her final moments.  
  
She looks up at Gambit with her hazel eyes. Gambit is enchanted by her eyes, which although strained from crying and filled with terror, are two of the most beautiful things that he has seen in his dark and shadowed life. All the sounds of the occurring massacre fade away around him as he is drawn in by her eyes. Time seems to stop and the only think in the entire world at that moment consists of Gambit, and the dying girl in his lap. Her breathing quickens until her pupils dilate, and she lets out one final trailing breath.  
  
Gambit bends over, and hugs the girl, her body limp in his arms.  
  
"REMY!!!!! REMY!!!!!" A worried Piotr shouts as he tries to wake up his friend. "WAKE UP COMRADE!"  
  
Gambit is shaken awake by his Russian roommate. He sits up in his bed, his pulse racing, and his face drenched in sweat. Gambit hunches over and rests his head in his hands.  
  
"A-Are you alright Comrade?" Piotr asks his visibly distraught friend.  
  
"Oui.....Oui, Mon ami" Gambit tries to reassure his concerned friend.  
  
"You were screaming, it sounded bad." Piotr remarks.  
  
"Gambit was just having a bad dream Mon ami,"  
  
"It was the second one in as many nights comrade." Piotr points out, "Are you sure that you are alright?"  
  
"Oui....." Is all that Gambit says.  
  
Piotr doesn't believe him, but he walks back to his bed, still concerned for his friend's well being. He wants to find out what it is that is troubling his one and only friend in the Acolytes, but he knows that Gambit is not going to say anything unless he wants to. Piotr glances over at Gambit one last time before climbing into his bed. As Piotr lies down, he hears his normally strong yet easygoing friend Gambit sobbing in his bed.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::Los Angeles California::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Jubilee is sitting in her room at her parent's house, talking on the telephone. After mutants were exposed, and the Xavier Institute destroyed, Jubilee's parents had brought her back to Los Angeles to live with them. She understood that her parents were only concerned for her safety, but the fact of the matter was, she was miserable.  
  
It didn't take long for the students at her old school, to which she returned after moving back to California, to find out that she was a mutant. Her reunion with her old friends was short lived, and soon she was relegated to exile status in a school in which she was once one of the "in" crowd.  
  
She missed her friends at the Institute. After all that they had gone through, she had grown close to her mutant family. She also missed Bobby. At first, she thought that he was so immature. Then, as she got to know him, she grew to like him. Immaturity and all. Their relationship was just starting to blossom when the events that caused her return to Los Angeles happened.  
  
"Are you sure that it's okay for you to be talking on the phone right now?" Jubilee inquires, "Isn't it almost 1 a.m. there?"  
  
"Yeah, it is, and if I get caught, I'm coming to Los Angeles to kick your Chinese butt!" Amara jokes.  
  
"Yeah right, I could kick your butt with a fire extinguisher." Jubilee giggles. "So how are things at the mansion?  
  
"It's almost finished." Amara replies, "We just moved into our new rooms.....Granted there's no furniture yet, but it's better than living in the sublevels."  
  
"Ummmmm, S-So how is Bobby?" Jubilee asks sheepishly.  
  
"Why don't you call and ask him yourself?" Amara questions. "Where you two really that close?"  
  
"Well, we became really good friends, and for awhile....." Jubilee pauses for a bit as she contemplates their relationship, "things were starting to get serious between us, and then.....well you know."  
  
"So are you're parents ever going to let you come back?" Amara inquires of her friend.  
  
"I'm trying, believe me, I'm trying." Jubilee sighs as she looks at the clock on her dresser, "Sorry Amara, but I have to let you go, the minutes on my phone card are about to run out."  
  
"Okay, you take care Jubes, and I'll talk to ya later." Amara says to her friend on the other side of the country.  
  
"I will, and tell everyone I said hi. Night Amara." Jubilee adds.  
  
"Bye" Amara says and hangs up the phone.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::Elsewhere in Los Angeles:::::::::::::::::::::  
  
A young Asian boy about 14 years of age with shoulder length jet black hair tied back in a ponytail strolls by a closed pawn. He stops and looks through the front window which is further secured by iron bars. He peers through iron bars until he sees a shadow about his size in the back of the shop behind the counter. He steps back and disappears into a shadow cast onto the street by a nearby light post.  
  
Moments later, he steps out of the shadow in the back of the pawn shop. He gives a quick look around the shop, then spots what he is looking for. He walks up the cash register, and, with a flick of the wrist, pulls out a butterfly knife. He uses the knife to pop open the cash register, and proceeds to clean out the register of all its cash. He then starts to walk around the shop looking into the display cases for anything that might catch his eye. He is about to open one of the display cases when he hears a low growl from the other side of the counter. He leans over to see what it is. Much to his dismay, a large German Shepard is standing there, its eyes fixated on him. He slowly backs away from the dog. The dog lunges at him, and he just barely is able to dive out of the way. He looks up from his hands and knees to be nose to snout with the growling guard dog. He slowly backs away from the dog, never taking his eyes off of him. The German Shepard barks, and chases him through the shop. The boy sees his way out, and dives into a shadow behind a display case leaving the guard dog puzzledly sniffing the area where he disappeared. 


	2. New Powers Revealed?

For those of you who may have read my other fics "Sitting here in Limbo", and "Letters from the Edge", although judging from the reviews, I doubt it, I will be incorporating those stories into this one. I had planned to do this fic after I finished Letters, but I think that it would be easier to just start over, and do this as one big fic instead of several sequels. Here is the next chapter. Enjoy, and please review.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.  
  
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A little girl quietly moves through shrubs and bushes towards a light in the distance. She moves towards a ring of stones where she sees a group of five hooded figures surrounding a shadowed individual. She hears them chanting in German, but for some reason it sounds oddly different from the language that she normally speaks.  
  
The Shadowed Man shouts out in pain as a large glowing disk appears at his feet. He hurls energy blasts at two of the robed figures sending them flying into a nearby trees. The remaining robed figures continue chanting as the glowing disk at the Shadowed Man's feet continues to grow. He tries to summon more energy balls to throw at the robed figures, but they dissipate as he succumbs to the pain. The glowing disk at his feet begins to glow brighter, and with a bright flash, the man is gone.  
  
Exhausted, one of the robed figures collapses to the ground, dropping a golden pendant of a sword with a blue gem in its center. The pendant hits a rock cracking the gem in two. Meanwhile the others rush into the trees to check on their fallen comrades.  
  
The little girl, crouching in the brush, loses her balance breaking several twigs as she falls forward into the stone circle. The robed figure on the ground removes her hood, and turns to see what the noise is.  
  
"Margali," says the woman, "What are you doing here, I thought I told you to go to bed."  
  
"I woke up and you were gone, I was so scared." Says Margali. "She gets up and runs to her mother, and gives her a hug."  
  
"Who was that man mommy? Where did he go?" Asks Margali.  
  
"He was a very bad man, and we sent him to a place where he could not hurt anyone ever again."  
  
Margali sees the golden pendant on ground, and picks it up clutching it close to her.  
  
Mrs. Sefton wakes up in her bedroom, her husband sound asleep next to her.  
  
"Why have the dreams started again, and what do they mean?"  
  
:::::::::::::::::Amanda's Bathroom in the Sefton Home, Bayville New York:::::::::::::::::  
  
Amanda stands in front of a mirror, getting ready for school. She is brushing her hair when a bright flash of light appears, and she finds herself in Kurt's room at the Xavier Institute. Shocked, she looks around to find Kurt asleep in his bed. Puzzled, she walks over to Kurt, and wakes him.  
  
"Ha Ha! Very funny Kurt, now take me back home so I can finish getting ready for school."  
  
Kurt groggily rolls over to find Amanda sitting at the edge of his bed. Surprised he asks, "Amanda! What are you doing in my room?"  
  
"I thought that you brought me here? You did teleport me over here right?" Says Amanda.  
  
They look at each other, puzzled by the mystery of how Amanda was somehow ported to Kurt's room.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Somewhere in Los Angeles:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
The Asian boy, Jaden, walks into a motel on the outskirts of the city. As he walks by the front desk, the clerk is about to harass him for his rent money. Before he has a chance to say anything, Jaden throws $200 onto the desk.  
  
"That should take care of this and next week, and I need fresh towels" he says walking by, not even breaking stride.  
  
He enters his room, and begins to empty his pockets. With the exception of almost being eaten by a dog, it was a good night. Almost a grand in loose cash which was more than enough to keep him fed and off the streets for another two maybe three weeks if he didn't spend too much.  
  
Jaden takes off his black leather jacket, and pulls out his red t-shirt which he usually keeps tucked into his pants when he goes out, especially on his bi-monthly cash with drawl trips. He unwraps a red bandana from around his right forearm to reveal a tattoo of a Chinese character.  
  
He looks in the mirror, and ruffles his hair before plopping on the bed, and turning on the TV. Its past 3:00 in the morning, but the time never phases him. One of the drawbacks of chronic insomnia. He lies in his bed watching TV. Part of him wants to get some rest, but he is terrified of what he will see if he ever goes to sleep.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Xavier Institute:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Amanda, Kurt, and Storm are in Professor Xavier's office. Professor Xavier is on the phone with Amanda's father. He explains that she and Kurt had a class project that they had to finish, and he came by earlier that morning to pick her up. Amanda's father is furious that she snuck off with Kurt when she knew that he forbade her from seeing him. Professor Xavier tries to calm Amanda's father down. He apologizes to Mr. Sefton and says that it was school related and that she was in no way deliberately trying to disobey him.  
  
"Well, you tell her that I want her home straight after school! "  
  
Disgruntled, Mr. Sefton hangs up the phone.  
  
Amanda thanks the professor for helping to try and smooth things over with her parents.  
  
Professor Xavier asks Amanda what happened, and how she found herself in Kurt's room.  
  
"Well," Says Amanda," I was in my Bathroom getting ready for school, when I saw a bright light, and poof. I was in Kurt's room. I just assumed that Kurt was playing one of his pranks and teleported me here, but he didn't know anything about it."  
  
"Could it be possible that Kurt used his powers to bring Amanda here even though he was asleep?" Asks Storm.  
  
"It is possible," Says Professor Xavier, "but it doesn't sound like his average means of teleportation."  
  
Professor asks Amanda, "You have teleported with Kurt before, did it seem similar to your previous experiences? Do you recall a sulfur smell in the room?"  
  
"No, Says Amanda, It seemed totally different from other times that I've teleported with Kurt."  
  
"Perhaps my powers are growing Professor." Says Kurt.  
  
"I don't think so Kurt."  
  
Professor asks Amanda, "What were you thinking when you teleported?"  
  
"Well, I was kinda upset that my parents wouldn't let me see Kurt anymore, and I was thinking about how I couldn't wait to see Kurt at school today." Says Amanda.  
  
"As I suspected," remarks the Professor, "I seems that you too may have the X gene as well Amanda. Although we cannot be sure if you are manifesting special powers. It may very well be Kurt subconsciously using his powers to reach out to you."  
  
"You two better head off to school. Kurt, I want you keep an eye on Amanda just in case she is manifesting powers of her own."  
  
Kurt has a devilish grin on his face. Kurt sighs, "Well, it's a rough job Professor, but someone has to do it."  
  
Kurt puts his arm around Amanda and they both teleport leaving a puff of smoke.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Acolyte Base Somewhere in New York::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Gambit was sitting at a table in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. His roommate Piotr has woken up an hour ago, and was working out in the gym. Normally, Remy would join him, but after the previous night, Piotr just let Gambit sleep, and went to the gym with out him.  
  
"Gambit sat silently staring into his cup of coffee when Sabertooth walked into the kitchen. Gambits mood suddenly went foul as Sabertooth pours himself a cup of coffee, and stands at the far end of the kitchen.  
  
"Shouldn't you be working out with you're Commie Buddy?" Sabertooth says insinuatingly to which Gambit just scoffs and returns to his brooding.  
  
"You know I wish that ol' Buckethead would give us something to do, I haven't killed or maimed anyone in almost a month." Sabertooth says obviously trying to provoke a response out of Remy.  
  
Gambit gets up from his seat, and begins to leave the kitchen.  
  
"Why are you here anyway? You never had the stomach for this." Says the feral mutant to which Gambit turns around and shoots him an evil look causing Sabertooth to be pushed back into the refrigerator, much to both mutant's surprise. Gambit walks up to Sabertooth, and glares him in the eye.  
  
"Gambit is a teaf, not a sadistic killer like you! Gambit would steal or do anything for money, but remember that Gambit would gladly kill you for free."  
  
That said, Gambit exits the kitchen leaving a grinning Sabertooth, still proud of himself for succeeding in provoking a response out of Gambit.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::Sefton Home, Bayville New York::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Professor Xavier and Storm approach the Sefton home. Storm knocks on the door. Mrs. Sefton answers the door. She sees that it is Professor Xavier and Storm, and tries to close the door.  
  
"Wait, Mrs. Sefton, can we please speak with you?" Says Storm, "It is about your daughter Amanda."  
  
Mrs. Sefton stops leaving the door cracked enough to peak though it. "Is she in trouble?"  
  
"May we please come in Mrs. Sefton?" Asks the professor.  
  
Mrs. Sefton Wearily opens the door, and gestures for them to come in.  
  
Professor Xavier is sitting in his chair opposite of Mrs. Sefton. Storm stands to the right of the Professor sipping from a tea cup as Mrs. Sefton pours a cup for Professor Xavier, and hands it to him.  
  
"Mrs. Sefton, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary about your daughter Amanda?" Asks Professor Xavier.  
  
Mrs. Sefton shifts her weight in her seat. It is obvious that she is very upset by what he is asking.  
  
"What do you mean? My daughter is not a mutant, if that is what you are implying."  
  
"Mrs. Sefton," Says the Professor, "Something very strange happened to Amanda today. She somehow teleported to the institute this morning, and it appears that she did it without the aid of Kurt. I believe that it may be possible that she has the X gene."  
  
"No, it's that..... Thing!" Says Mrs. Sefton, "He's doing this. Why can't he just leave her alone?"  
  
"Mrs. Sefton, Kurt was asleep when Amanda teleported, Storm Interjects, It is highly unlikely that he teleported her to the institute. And besides, Kurt has to be in physical contact with anything that he teleports. He can't teleport remote objects or people."  
  
"I can't believe that you came here to tell me these lies." Mrs. Sefton begins to cry. "I'm not going to go through this Ag.....Please Leave!"  
  
Professor Xavier and Storm are in the car.  
  
"Storm asks the Professor, Do you think that we will be able to get through to her?"  
  
The professor says, "I don't think that Mrs. Sefton is in denial. I sense that she knows more than she is letting on." Telepathically speaks to Kurt," Kurt, I would like you to bring Amanda back to the Institute after school. I would like to run some tests on her to see if she truly is developing powers of her own."  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville High School:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Kurt is having lunch with Amanda under a tree at school when he receives the message from Professor Xavier.  
  
He looks away from Amanda, "Yes Professor."  
  
"What is wro....." Amanda begins then is suddenly cut off.  
  
Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Kurt sees a bright light. He notices a glowing disk on the ground below him. He turns around, and Amanda is gone.  
  
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Well, there is chapter two, I hope that you liked it, and please review. 


	3. High School Drama

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Kelly High School, Los Angeles::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Jubilee walks by the front of her high school. She stops momentarily and leans against a near by tree. She sighs to herself. She hated going to school. Ever since it got out that she was a mutant, going to school was a living hell. Most times, people just left her alone, but she could still hear the whispers and snickers as she walked by. Her former friends had abandoned her long ago. Sometimes the slow death of teen exile was worse than anything that Magneto, Mystique, or anti-mutant groups could do to her.  
  
Even the teachers shunned her. They tolerated her at best, and the only reason that they did was because they were legally obligated to do so.  
  
Jubilee straightens herself, and begins the long walk to her first class. The walk through the halls of her high school seemed to take an eternity. The looks, some of fear, some of disgust, and some of pure hatred. She walks up the steps that lead to the entrance of the main building when she was stopped by a group of football players led by the team captain, Rodney Hicks.  
  
"Hold it right there you Mutie Freak!" The team captain exclaims.  
  
"Leave me alone Rodney. I just want to get to my class." Jubilee snaps.  
  
"We don't want your kind around here anymore!" Says another player.  
  
"And what exactly is my kind?!?!?!" Jubilee says angrily  
  
"Mutants you stupid Bitch!" Rodney says as he knocks the books out of Jubilee's hands, and pushes her down the steps.  
  
Jubilee goes barreling down the step to the school, hitting her head on the concrete. She looks up groggily, blood streaming from her forehead, to find that she is being picked up by two of the football players.  
  
A crowd begins to form. Rodney walks up to Jubilee as two of the football players hold her up. With a grin on his face, he slaps Jubilee across the face, then punches her in the stomach causing her to lynch forward, coughing.  
  
"Let's teach this Mutant Bitch not to stink up out school with her mutant stench!" Rodney says as the growing mob cheers him on.  
  
"How can they do this?" Jubilee thinks to herself as she surveys the crowd. "Is everyone here just going to let this happen?" Jubilee hangs her head and begins to cry, fearful that she was about to be executed much to the delight and entertainment of the crowd.  
  
Out of the crowd, the principal pushes his way through the crowd of cheering teens.  
  
"What is going on here?!?" The principal interrupts, as several groans are heard from the crowd. Rodney backs off, and the football players drop Jubilee.  
  
Jubilee breaths a sigh of relief. It was the first time that she actually was glad to see the principal.  
  
The principal directs his attention to Rodney. "What have I told you about causing trouble! I could have you suspended for this!" the principal threatens.  
  
"What?!?! For that little Bitch!" Rodney reacts, "We play for the district championship this weekend!"  
  
"Well, you should have thought of that before you started this." Says the principal  
  
"She's a filthy Mutant! This is Horseshit!" Says Rodney trying to defend his actions.  
  
"That's it, you're suspended Mr.!" The principal points to Rodney and the other players with him. "All of you in the gym now. Help her up, and take her with you. The rest of you get to class!"  
  
Rodney storms off towards the gym. Two of the football players pick up Jubilee, and carry her to the gym as directed.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville High School::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Kurt Teleports into the Gym, and then teleports out. He teleports into the Library where Kitty is sitting at a desk studying. He startles her, and she falls back out of her chair as Kurt Teleports out. Kurt then appears in the Football stadium and calls out Amanda's name.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Limbo Dimension::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
With a bright flash, Amanda appears in a Limbo Dimension. The terrain is rocky with rivers of molten Lava around her. She calls out for Kurt to no avail. She sees a Demon walk out from behind a boulder, followed by another. Soon, there are several demons circling the area.  
  
"Well, at least they can't get across the Lava."  
  
Two of the demons jump across the river of lava and begin stalking Amanda.  
  
"Looks like I spoke too soon. Kurt! Where are you!"  
  
Kurt teleports near Amanda's locker, frantically trying to find her and then teleports out again.  
  
Amanda gets more frightened as the demons stalk closer to her. She then sees a specter of Kurt float by calling her name. Amanda jumps and tries to grab onto Kurt. She goes right through Kurt, and lands on the edge of the little island that she is on. She begins to lose her balance, and falls grabbing onto the edge. She tries to get a foothold. Her foot slips knocking a few rocks lose. She looks down and watches as the rocks fall into the lava below, burning up on contact. She looks up to see the demons looking down on her. They are about to attack her when they suddenly run away. A large dark figure in a black and purple robe jumps across the river of lava. With one hand, he reaches down, and lifts Amanda up by her arm. He holds her before him, and with a resounding voice says,  
  
"HOW DID YOU GET HERE!?!?!"  
  
"Amanda answers, I don't know, I was at school one minute, and the next thing I know I was here." She tries to loosen his grip.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::On the sidewalk in front of the school:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Jaden is walking by the front of Kelly High School. His hands are in his pockets, and is not really paying any attention to what is going on around him. He lets out a yawn when he hears something from on campus. He walks up to the chain link fence which separates the campus grounds from the street.  
  
"Mutants you stupid Bitch!" Jaden hears from the street as he sees a jock in a letterman jacket push an Asian girl wearing a yellow coat down the campus steps. Jaden gasps as she hits the ground hard. A crowd is beginning to form around them, blocking his view.  
  
"There's too many people around to do anything." Jaden says to himself, "I need to find a better vantage point."  
  
He looks around for somewhere to better observe what is happening. He sees a tree near the main building overlooking the crowd. Jaden walks up to a shadow casted on the sidewalk by a near by mailbox. He looks around to make sure that no one is there to see him. When he is sure that no one is around, Jaden sinks into the shadow. Moments later, he walks out of a shadow on one of the branches of the tree he spotted earlier.  
  
He crouches down on the branch, and watches what is happening below. He is relived to see what he assumes is the principal come to break things up. Jaden watches as one of the football players' storms off, and two of the other jocks pick up the girl. They all head to an adjoining building followed by the principal. Jaden gets a bad feeling about this, and decides to follow them. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Limbo Dimension::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
"Let me go!" Amanda says as she struggles to get free.  
  
"HOW DID YOU GET HERE!?!?! I AM BELASCO, THE LORD AND MASTER OF THIS ACCURSED DIMENSION. YOU WILL TELL ME HOW YOU GOT HERE!!!!!" As Amanda struggles, Belasco sees that Amanda is wearing a Golden Sword Pendant around her neck. Belasco begins to reach for the pendant.  
  
"I told you, I don't know!" Amanda Yells.  
  
Amanda manages to free herself from his grip, and falls towards the river of lava. Belasco reaches for the pendant, but it is out of his grasp. A glowing disk appears below Amanda. Recognizing it, she thinks of being with Kurt, and with a flash of light, she is gone.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Xavier Institute::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Kurt teleports into Professor Xavier's office where he and Storm are talking. He frantically begins to tell them that Amanda has disappeared when a bright light flashes in to the office temporarily blinding them. The next instant Amanda in unconscious on the floor of the professor's office. Kurt crouches over her and tries to wake her. Amanda regains consciousness. She sees Kurt, and begins crying uncontrollably. Kurt hugs her tightly, as Storm goes for help.  
  
The professor asks Amanda, "What happened my dear?"  
  
He tries to scan her mind for clues as to what happened, but she is too frantic. All that he gets are jumbled images of a Limbo Dimension, and a silhouette of an ominous figure.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Kelly High School Gym::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
The doors to the gymnasium burst open as an angry Rodney marches into the gym followed by four other football players, two of whom are carrying a limp Jubilee. Rodney takes a seat on the bottom row of the bleachers. The other players join him, and the two players carrying Jubilee unceremoniously drop her on the ground.  
  
A short time later, the principal walks into the gym. He closes the double doors behind him, and locks them.  
  
Meanwhile, outside, Jaden is trying to open the doors to get in, but they are all locked. He looks around and sees a tree near a window. He finds a shadow, and shadow ports into the tree.  
  
He looks into the window, but decides that he needs to hear what is going on. He sees the score keeper's box on the second floor of the gym overlooking the court. He jumps down from the tree, and disappears into a shadow at the base of the tree. A split second later, Jaden lands in the score keeper's box. He looks down on the court at the events before him.  
  
"Mr.....you can't sus....." Rodney tries to plead his case, but is cut off.  
  
"Don't worry about it Rodney, you'll still be able to play this weekend, but I still have to suspend you for a day because of what the other students saw." The Principal says. "I don't like this Mutant filth in my school any more that you do." He says as he looks down on Jubilee. "So I'll tell you what, you boys take care of her, and I'll make sure that this incident is overlooked on your records."  
  
The five football players look at each other, then get big smiles on their faces. Rodney is the first to take advantage of the principal's offer, and kicks Jubilee in the stomach.  
  
Jaden, not willing to let things escalate any further shadow ports down to the court. Jaden raises out of the principal's shadow behind him. He jumps up, and delivers a kick to the back of his head sending him falling to the ground hard.  
  
The football players see him, and charge at him. Jaden dives into a nearby shadow, then jumps out of another one behind one of the football players. He quickly knocks him out then disappears into the shadows again.  
  
Rodney and the remaining football players are looking around trying to figure out where Jaden it.  
  
"Come out and fight you Mutie Freak!" Rodney shouts. He hears a grunting nose from behind him. He turns around and finds the other three players on the ground unconscious.  
  
Rodney begins to panic, "Come out you....."  
  
Jaden jumps out of a shadow cast upon the court by the score board hanging overhead. He tackles Rodney, pinning him against the bleachers with his knee. With a flick of the wrist, Jaden pulls out his Butterfly knife, and rests its point against Rodney's throat.  
  
Jaden gets up from on top of Rodney. He flicks his wrist, and returns the knife to his back pocket. "As much as you deserve it, this blade is not meant for you."  
  
Jaden picks up Jubilee's unconscious body, then backs into a shadow never taking his eyes off of a terrified Rodney. 


	4. Waking Up In Strange Places

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Acolyte Base Somewhere in New York::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Gambit stands before the door to Magneto's office. He has spent the past few hours thinking about the dreams that have been haunting him lately, as well as the circumstances in his life that brought him to the current point in his life.  
  
He raises his hand, and knocks on the heavy metal door. Shortly afterward, the door swings open by it's self. Gambit enters the room to find Magneto staring out the window with three metal spheres orbiting him like the moons of a Jupiter.  
  
"I'm glad that you came Gambit, I was just going to send for you." Magneto says with his back to him, "There is a message that I want you to deliver to the Brotherhood boys for me."  
  
"If you don't mind monsieur Magneto, Gambit was wondering if he could have some personal time." Gambit inquires,  
  
"You work for me, you have no personal time. The only thing that you have, is my Time," Magneto says matter of factly. "and right now, you are to deliver a message to the Brotherhood house."  
  
"All due respect monsieur, but Gambit could really use this time......" Gambit is suddenly lifted into the air.  
  
Magneto is using the metal in Gambit's clothes to lift him up, and levitate Gambit next to him by the window. The whole time, never taking his eyes off of the scenery out side.  
  
"When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it without question!"  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Sefton Home, Bayville New York::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Mrs. Sefton is sitting in the Sefton home contemplating the visit that she just received from Professor Xavier, and Storm. She tries to hold back her tears as she comes to the stark realization that her past has finally caught up to her. She walks up to a mirror that hangs in the parlor, and takes a long look at herself. Her eyes are swollen and red from crying. It appears that she has just aged 10 years in the few hours that Professor Xavier and Storm first told her about Amanda's potential powers.  
  
"After all these years of denying myself the truth, my worst nightmare has become a reality."  
  
"Why did you wait so long?????" You knew that this was going to happen, but you were just too damn stubborn to admit it." She says looking at herself in disgust.  
  
She rests her right hand on the wall next to the mirror. "But, is a normal life for your daughter too much to ask for? Stop lying to yourself," she glares at her reflection in the mirror, "Amanda had nothing to with this. This is about you! Now, Amanda's life may be in danger because you were running away from your past." She stands up straight, "Well, I'm going to stop running, for the first time in my life"  
  
She begins chanting an incantation in a long forgotten German dialect. The edge of the mirror begins to glow, and her reflection begins to distort. An image of an old woman appears.  
  
"Margali, What is it that has caused you to contact me after all these years?" says the old woman in German.  
  
"It's Amanda." Replies Mrs. Sefton, also speaking in German. "She cannot control her powers. I know that she it too old, but I wish to return with her so that she may begin her training. Although, I'm afraid that it may already be too late."  
  
"Of course you may come back, Child. You were always welcomed to return whenever you wanted." Says the old woman.  
  
"Thank You," says Mrs. Sefton, "and Mother, I'm sorry."  
  
The image of the old woman disappears from the parlor mirror. The phone on the table across from the mirror rings. Mrs. Sefton can be seen in the reflection of the mirror walking over to the phone. She answers the phone. Storm is on the other end of the line. She tells Mrs. Sefton what happened with Amanda. Mrs. Sefton hangs up the phone, and begins to cry. She lashes out at the mirror with her hand. The mirror behind her is cracked by an unseen force.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Motel Room Somewhere in Los Angeles::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Jubilee slowly opens her eyes. Her head is throbbing, and her abdomen aches when she tries to move. She turns her head to the side and sees a fuzzy object. Her eyes pull focus, and she recognizes it as a lamp. She slowly surveys her surroundings, but doesn't recognize anything.  
  
Jubilee tries to sit up, but a dizzy spell hits her, and she ends up plopping her head back into the pillow.  
  
"Don't try to sit up," A strange voice says, "You were roughed up pretty good."  
  
Jubilee turns her head to see an Asian boy about her age sitting backwards on a chair, leaning on the back rest. "W-Who are you?" A groggy Jubilee asks.  
  
"My name is Jaden, do you remember what happened?"  
  
"Vaguely, did you bring me here?" Jubilee asks  
  
"Yes, you were being attacked by some boys at your school, and I saved you." Jaden explains, I didn't know where to take you, so I brought you here."  
  
Jaden leans forward with a cup in his hand, and holds it to Jubilee's mouth. "It's water, drink up."  
  
Jubilee takes a sip, but the water stings a cut on her lip causing her to wince. She tries to sit up, but fails again, this time due to a sharp pain in her side.  
  
"Don't," Jaden pleads, "I think you're ribs maybe broken, and you probably have a concussion."  
  
"Where am I?" Jubilee asks.  
  
"You're in my motel room a few blocks from your school." Jaden says, "Is there anyone I should call?"  
  
Jubilee lays in the bed silent. A worried expression covers her face, and she reluctantly nods. "Do you have a phone?"  
  
Jaden picks up the receiver of a phone near the bed, and hands it to Jubilee. She slowly takes the receiver as Jaden holds his hand over the key pad awaiting what number to dial.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Xavier Institute::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Amanda is lying in a bed in the Institute infirmary. Kurt is sitting in a chair by her side. Mr. and Mrs. Sefton walk in to the room to find Kurt by her side. Mrs. Sefton rushes to Amanda's side, and begins crying.  
  
"What you doing here? Get a way from her! Says Mr. Sefton, I told you to stay away from my daughter!"  
  
"I had nothing to do with this. Kurt replies."  
  
Professor Xavier enters the room, "I know that this is hard to accept Mr. Sefton, But it seems that Amanda is in fact a mutant. The added stress she is experiencing may have facilitated her powers manifesting themselves."  
  
"Are you saying that this is my fault!?!?!" Shouts Mr. Sefton.  
  
Mrs. Sefton turns around, "Calm down Dear. Amanda needs her rest."  
  
"Well, How do we know that that blue thing over there didn't give her these powers!?!?!" Mr. Sefton shouts  
  
"I love Amanda, and I would never do anything to hurt her!" Kurt retorts.  
  
"Mr. Sefton," Professor Xavier replies, "I realize that this is a lot to take in, but Amanda does have the X gene. Nothing that you, or Kurt could have done would have changed that."  
  
In the background, Amanda begins to awaken. She is disoriented, not sure where she is. She sees her mother sitting next to the bed slightly turned away. Amanda reaches for her hand. Mrs. Sefton turns her attention to Amanda.  
  
"What is going on mother?" Asks Amanda  
  
Mrs. Sefton Embraces her daughter, " everything is going to be alright dear."  
  
"I was so afraid, there were Demons, and a big dark man," Amanda begins to cry.  
  
Amanda hears her father and Kurt arguing. She sits up in the bed.  
  
"Stop fighting! Stop Fighting! Kurt had nothing to do with thi....."  
  
A bright light appears in the room. Kurt and Mr. Sefton turn around to see a glowing disk appear below Amanda. Mrs. Sefton reaches out to her daughter. Amanda tries to reach back towards her mother. Kurt leaps across the room, and tries to get a hold of Amanda. There is a flash, and she is gone. Kurt and Mrs. Sefton land on the bed. Mrs. Sefton begins to cry uncontrollably.  
  
"I didn't want this for her!" Mrs. Sefton sobs, "I hoped that she would not have to go through this!" Mr. Sefton walks to his wife's side and tries to comfort her.  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Acolyte Base:::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
In Magneto's office, Gambit is held helpless by Magneto's will.  
  
"Gambit.....understands, but there are some things that he has to take care of."  
  
Magneto doesn't seem to sympathize any for Gambit's or any of the other Acolyte's problems for that matter. Anger begins to grow in Gambit over Magneto's selfishness and lack of compassion. Pyro or Sabertooth could just as easily delivered whatever stupid message to those bumbling idiots, but Magneto was being pissy just because Gambit had the audacity to ask for a day off.  
  
The spheres orbiting Magneto begin to speed up, and fly wildly out of control, shattering the large picture window in front of Magneto. Gambit falls to the floor as a shocked Magneto looks down at him. Magneto gives Gambit a puzzled look as he tries to figure out whether, if he didn't send the spheres through the window, then how did Gambit do it?  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::Jaden's Motel Room:::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Jubilee finishes talking to her parents, and hands the receiver back to Jaden. Oddly enough, her mother was rather calm about what happened. Granted, she was still angry, but she was no where near as frantic as her father was. She thought that if he had the ability, he would have climbed through the phone line to get to her.  
  
A short time later, Jaden is waiting in front of the motel with Jubilee, arms wrapped around his neck, sleeping in his arms. He looks down enviously, and sighs at how peaceful she looks.  
  
An ambulance pulls up in front of the motel, followed by Jubilee's parents a short time later. Jaden hands Jubilee over to the paramedic, and silently tries to exit the scene. Unfortunately, he is cut off by Jubilee's father, while her mother checks on Jubilee, and talks to the paramedics..  
  
"Are you the one who helped Jubilee?" Jubilee's father politely asks,  
  
"Yes, now if you don't mind sir, I don't really do well around big crowds." Jaden replies.  
  
"Thank you for what you did." Jubilee's father says as he shakes Jaden's hand, "You saved her life."  
  
"It was nothing." Jaden says as Jubilee's mother comes over and hugs him.  
  
Jaden is taken aback by the act of gratitude and kindness by Jubilee's mother. He gently pushes her away, and backs into a shadow, disappearing. Jubilee's parents look at each other quizzically, but before they can say anything to each other, a paramedic approaches them to talk about transporting Jubilee to a hospital.  
  
Jaden walks out of a shadow in an alley across the street. He hides out of sight, and watches the happenings in front of the motel. He watches intently as the paramedics load Jubilee into the ambulance, and her mother climbs in after her. The ambulance drives away followed by Jubilee's father in the family car.  
  
In the ambulance, Jubilee's mother is holding her hand.  
  
"Don't worry Mrs. Lee, she's banged up pretty good, but she's not in any danger." The paramedic says.  
  
"Jaden....." Jubilee sighs still unconscious on the gurney.  
  
"Jaden?" Mrs. Lee thinks, "Was that the name of the boy at the motel?"  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::Limbo Dimension:::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
With a flash of light, Amanda is in the Limbo Dimension. She looks around when she is grabbed from behind.  
  
"At last! I can finally get out of this hell dimension, and you are going to be my ticket out."  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::  
  
That's it for now. Hope that you liked it, and please review. 


	5. The Seeds Of Friendship

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Los Angeles Hospital::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jubilee is lying in the bed of the Los Angeles hospital. With the exception of a concussion and bruised ribs, both which she suffered when she was pushed down the school stairs, bumps and bruises where the extent of her injuries. Against her wishes, Jubilee's parents agreed to leave her in the hospital over night for observation. After several hours of trying to calm her down, the doctors finally gave her a sedative so that she could get some rest.

A nurse walks into the room, and picks up a clipboard at the foot of Jubilee's bed. The nurse records her vitals, and checks the I.V. She returns the clipboard to the base of the bed, and leaves the room.

As the nurse leaves the room, Jaden walks out of the shadows into Jubilee's room. He walks up to Jubilee's bed, and sits in a chair next to the bed.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Xavier Institute :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Kurt, and Forge are in the Danger Room, while Professor Xavier, Storm, and Mr. and Mrs. Sefton are watching from the control room. Forge is outfitting Kurt with his teleportation enhancer.

"What is he (Forge) doing?" Asks Mr. Sefton.

"He is fitting Kurt with a teleportation enhancer. When Kurt teleports he passes through a parallel dimension." The Professor explains, "Normally he passes through it to quickly to be able to interact with anything in that dimension. We believe that Amanda's power has trapped her in that dimension." "Forge's device will enable Kurt to stay in that dimension long enough so that he may be able to find Amanda and bring her back."

Professor Xavier turns his attention to Mrs. Sefton.

"Mrs. Sefton, What did you mean when you said that you did not want her to go through this?"

She glares at the ground, and begins to explain what she meant.

"I-I am a mutant. I come from a clan of Gypsies in Bavaria." Mrs. Sefton leans forward in her seat. "Anyone in the clan who are found to be mutants are made Mages, and taught the ways of their ancient magic. From when I was a little girl, I was trained in the ways of magic." Her right hand begins to shake. She steadies it with her other hand. "I recognized that Amanda may be a mutant from an early age, and I should have taken her to Germany to begin her training. B-But I didn't want to believe it." She shakes a moment as Mr. Sefton puts his hand around his wife. "I wanted her to live a normal life. Now, she is stuck in some Limbo Dimension, and maybe in more danger than you know."

"Why do you think that Mrs. Sefton?" Ask the Professor.

"When I was a child, there was a powerful mutant named Belasco. Once a member of our clan; he went renegade when he found that he could increase his power by killing and absorbing the powers of other mutants in the clan. Groups of our most powerful mages, including my mother, were sent to stop him. They sent him to the Limbo Dimension where he has remained trapped ever since. To prevent Belasco from ever returning, the dimension was sealed with use of the Soulsword, and it was forbidden for anyone to teleport into the Limbo Dimension ever again."

"What is this Soulsword Mrs. Sefton?" Asks the Professor.

"It is a pendant." She explains, "To make it simple," she sniffled; "it is a key that they used to lock the door to Limbo, so to speak. It was broken the day Belasco was exiled. I took it, and have kept it ever since."

Mrs. Sefton begins to lose her composure. She turns towards her husband and begins to cry. He comforts her as best he can.

The Professor asks, "What happened to this pendant Mrs. Sefton."

Mr. Sefton answers for his distraught wife. "Magali gave Amanda one half of the pendant to her on her 16th Birthday. She loved it, and never takes it off. My wife wears the other half."

Mrs. Sefton sits up in her chair with a terrifying realization.

"If Belasco finds out that Amanda has the Soulsword, and she is trapped in Limbo, there's no telling what he will do to her to get it. You must help us get Amanda Back!"

Professor Xavier replies to Mrs. Sefton, "We are doing all that we can Mrs. Sefton, but I'm afraid that for now, Kurt is the only one with the abilities to rescue Amanda. I can guarantee you that Kurt will do whatever is necessary to save Amanda."

Mrs. Sefton stands up from her seat, and removes a Blue pendant from around her neck. She hands it to Professor Xavier.

"Give this to Kurt, if Belasco has captured Amanda, it may help him rescue her."

Professor Xavier hands the gem to Storm. She leaves the room and heads towards the Danger Room.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville Park, Bayville New York::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gambit pulls into the park parking lot on his motorcycle. After the mysterious events in Magneto's office, Magneto decided to send one of the other acolytes to deliver whatever message it was that he needed delivered. Gambit didn't really care what it was about as long as he didn't have to be the one to deliver it.

Gambit decided that a walk in the park would help clear his head, and help him figure out what was going on.

Gambit wanders around the park head to no destination in particular. He is too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice where he is going, and walks into two girls sending one of then falling to the ground.

"A-hey! Watch where you're goin", Rogue shouts up from the ground.

This snaps Gambit out of his thoughts, "Huh" Gambit looks around to see Rogue on the ground, and Kitty with a crossed expression on her face.

"Like, Rude much?!?!" Kitty says with crossed arms.

"Oh, sorry cher" Gambit apologizes, as he helps Rogue to her feet, and continues on his way.

Rogue proceeds to dust herself off when she realizes that Gambit has walked away.

"Hey, is that it?" Rogue shouts to Gambit causing him to turn and look at the two girls.

"Excuse moi" Gambit says non challantly

Rogue grabs Kitty, and walks up to Gambit. "No annoying flirtations, or sexual innuendo?"

Gambit blinks a few times, and takes one of Rogues hands, "Sorry cherie, Gambit has a lot on his mind right now, but Gambit can play next time" With that, the kisses the back of Rogues hand. He shoots a smile and a wink at Kitty, then continues on his way.

"Like mega weird!" Kitty exclaims

"There's something wrong with him." Rogue grabs Kitty and unceremoniously pulls her along the path, "Come on, that swamp rat has to be up to something"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Los Angeles Hospital:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jubilee sleeps peacefully in her hospital room. An orderly walks into the room with a syringe in his hand. He slowly walks up to the bed. He gently lifts Jubilee's arm and inserts the needle into her I.V. tube. He suddenly reaches out, and grabs Jubilee by the hair abruptly waking her from her peaceful slumber.

"Wake up you Mutie Bitch!"

After all that happened to her that day, she is still too weak to do anything, least of all call out for help. All that she can do is lay there helpless.

"My little brother was one of the kids that beat you up today at school." The Orderly whispers into her ear, "You're parents pressed charges, and he was arrested today. So, now, I'm going to finish what he started!"

The orderly slowly starts to empty the contents of the syringe into Jubilee's I.V. She can feel a warm sensation entering her veins, and working its way up her arm. She looks up into the pure hatred in the eyes of the orderly. She can feel herself start to get drowsy. As the room gets dark, all that she can hear are the beeping of the machines.

Beep....... Beep...... Beep......

"Jubilee! Jubilee Wake up! Jubilee!"

Jubilee is shaken awake. She looks over to find Jaden sitting in a chair next to her bed.

"You were having a nightmare" Jaden says, "You were whimpering in your sleep."

"How long have you been here?" Jubilee says as she tries to sit up in her bed.

"Not long, I-I just wanted to see if you were alright." Jaden says with a coy shyness.

With a great deal of effort, Jubilee finally is able to sit up. She looks over at Jaden. They make eye contact for a split second before Jaden looks away, causing Jubilee to smile.

"So..... I guess you're going to be alright, so I'll be going now." Jaden gets up from his seat and turns away. Before he has a chance to leave, Jubilee reaches over and gently takes his hand.

"You don't have to go," Jubilee says softly. "Please stay."

Jaden looks over his shoulder at Jubilee. It's not just a request, he can see the fear in her eyes. A fear that she is afraid to go to sleep because of what her dreams might bring. A fear that he has come to know all to well.

Jaden turns around, and sits back down in the chair at her bedside.

"So..... What do you want to talk about?" Jaden reluctantly inquires.

Jubilee, recognizing Jaden's shyness decides not to try and force him to talk about himself. "We don't have to talk. Just..... just stay, I feel safer when you are around" Jubilee smiles and takes his hand.

Jaden smiles back at Jubilee, and the two teens sit in the darkened room in comfortable silence.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville Park:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gambit is still wandering around the Bayville park, although now, he is being closely followed by two curious teenagers, Rogue and Kitty.

"Rogue, what if he isn't up to something, what if he's like just out for a walk." Kitty whispers,

"No way, I know that Swamp Rat, and he's always up to something!" Rogue says the whole time never taking her eyes off of Gambit.

"I don't know, he doesn't seem to be anything like how you described him" Kitty quips, "It's almost as if he's moping around"

"I still don't trust him." Rogue replies

"He doesn't seem so bad for an Acolyte." Kitty says as she looks over Rogue's shoulder at Gambit, "He's kinda cute"

Rogue looks over her shoulder and gives Kitty and evil stare.

"Errr, in an evil bad guy kinda way." Kitty adds

"He is acting weird, I'm gonna go talk to him." Says Rogue, "Kitty, go home, I'll catch ya later"

"Like, are you sure?" Kitty says concerned for her friend.

"That swamp Rat is a lot of things, but he would never do anything to hurt me" Rogue tries to reassure her friend.

"Well, If you're sure....." Kitty says hesitantly as she backs away from her friend.

Rogue looks back over at Gambit, who is fiddling around down by one of the Park's ponds.

"Okay, so now what do I do?" Rogue thinks to herself.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Xaiver Institute:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Forge is busily making adjustments to the Teleportation Enhancer.

Kurt asks, "What are you doing?"

Forge replies, "I am making it so that instead of slowing down the rate in which you pass through that other dimension, you can teleport in and out just like you do here.....At least I think."

Kurt looks disturbed, "I never thought that I would put this thing on again, let alone spend time in that scary place."

"I'm also making adjustments so that when you teleport it will tune you in with in a few meters of Amanda. That should help you find her."

Storm enters the Danger Room. She walks towards Kurt and Forge.

"Mrs. Sefton wanted you to take this with you. She says that it may be able to help you save Amanda."

"What does it do?" Kurt asks.

"She just says that Amanda has the other half of this pendant, and to find her as soon as possible. Mrs. Sefton says that there may be someone trying to capture Amanda on the other side Kurt, so be careful. Oh and Kurt, Good Luck."

Storm steps away from Kurt as Forge finishes the modifications to the Teleportation Enhancer. Forge takes a step back from Kurt, and gives him a thumbs up. Kurt looks up towards the control room and sees Mr. and Mrs., Sefton. Mrs. Sefton reaches out, and places her hand on the glass. Kurt raises his hand towards them, and with a puff of smoke, he is gone.

* * *

Well, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, Please don't forget to review.


	6. Minor Complications

This story isn't getting the response that I would like, but every time I start thinking about stopping this fic, I get new ideas for it, so, I'm just going to keep plugging away at it. Hopefully, it will catch on eventually. Hell, my other fic "Meeting with the Execs." didn't really catch on until chapter 7; so, there's still hope.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.

Replies: I need Reviews before I can start making replies. ::::Wink Wink:::

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Los Angeles Hospital:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jaden sits quietly by Jubilee's side. The sun is starting to come up, and Jubilee had finally fallen asleep about an hour earlier. Jaden had groan accustomed to sunrises. He had seen a lot of them over the last three years. Although his insomnia was a major burden in his young life, he truly enjoyed and savored every sunrise, and even looked forward to it. In a way, it was the one thing in his life that gave him hope. Hope that maybe one day he will find solace from his fears, solace from his past, and even solace from himself.

He was particularly tired for some reason. He was tempted to put his head down, and get some rest, but as soon as he closed his eyes, the visions would return. A constant reminder of his shadowed past.

Jaden looks over at Jubilee enviously as she slumbers peacefully in her bed. A slight smile glances across her face which brings a smile to his. It was a sign that she was in a peaceful place. Somewhere far away from this hospital, and the events that brought her there. Jaden is confused by the emotions that he is feeling. He hadn't felt this way for anyone in a long time, but why her?

Jubilee wasn't the first person that he had helped. Usually, if he helped anyone, he would do what was needed, then make a hasty, yet discreet exit. But, for some reason, she was different. He was actually concerned for her well being. He was worried about whether she would be alright, and most of all, he wanted her to be safe. Safe from the cruelties and evils of the world that he had become all too familiar with.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Limbo Dimension:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Amanda is frozen in terror as Belasco has her in his clutches. He grabs the Soulsword Pendant and pulls it from around her neck breaking the chain.

"Where did you get this? He asks."

"Mh-my Mother gave it to me."

Belasco takes a closer look at Amanda, "you are a Gypsy wench aren't you? It was your kind that banished me to this Hell, and now thanks to you, I will finally be free to exact my revenge."

Belasco looks at the pendant. Upon closer inspection, he realizes that the gem in the middle of the pendant is broken and a piece is missing. He angrily thrusts Amanda towards the ground.

"What have you done!?!?! You broke it! Where is the other piece, it is useless without it!"

Amanda tries to run away, but is grabbed by Belasco before she can even get to her feet.

"What have you done with the other piece?"

"Mh-my mother has the other piece, she is back in the real world."

Belasco throws the pendant at Amanda. He lets out an ear shattering yell. He looks down at Amanda, and comes to a realization.

"You have the ability to teleport, Teleport me out of here now!"

Amanda shrieks in fear, "I don't know how to do it, I don't even know how I got here."

Kurt teleports into the Limbo Dimension. He looks around, and is immediately jumped by a demon. Kurt tries to teleport, but for some reason is unable to. He rolls over onto his back, and kicks the demon off of him. Kurt springs to his feet, to find more demons on the rocks around him. In the distance, he sees Amanda, and Belasco. He tries to teleport again, but as before, he is unable to. Kurt leaps into the air, dodging diving demons. He runs as fast as he can towards Amanda's position.

Belasco picks up Amanda again, "Lies, You will teleport me back to the real world!"

"I told you, I don't know how, Don't you think that I would have left this place by know if I knew how?"

"Stupid Gypsy Wench, you will free me from this place or I will obliterate you!." Belasco raises his hand and summons a fiery ball of energy.

Kurt jumps onto Belasco's back. Loosing concentration the energy ball in Belasco's hand goes flying into nearby rocks destroying them. Kurt pulls the hood on Belasco's robe over his head.

"Amanda Run, I'll keep him distracted!"

Belasco summons more energy balls and begins hurling them wildly. Amanda grabs the pendant, and runs, dodging energy blasts and flying rocks. Belasco grabs hold of Kurt and throws him off of him. Kurt turns and flips in mid-air landing on a rock outcropping. Belasco quickly throws an energy blast at the outcropping blowing it up, sending Kurt falling into a gorge. At the last minute, Amanda dives, and grabs a hold of Kurt's hand.

"Kurt, Teleport us out of here!"

"I can't, something here is keeping me from teleporting."

The rocks start giving way, and Amanda and Kurt start sliding into the gorge. Belasco stalks towards Kurt and Amanda. Amanda pulls Kurt up over the edge of the cliff. An energy blast explodes near them, and they quickly run a way.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Los Angeles Hospital:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jaden is deep in his thoughts, all the while, still holding on to Jubilee's hand. Suddenly, Jaden feels her grip tighten slightly. He looks up to see that she is awake, and smiling at him.

"Good morning." Jubilee says as she sits up in her bed, wincing slightly because of her injured ribs.

"Errr, Hi." Is all that Jaden can say in reply.

Jubilee smiles again, "You're not very talkative are you?" to which Jaden just shrugs, and looks down at her hand in his.

"You should rest." Jaden says just above a whisper. You've only been asleep for about an hour.

"Don't worry about me, it's not like I have anywhere to go." Jubilee reassures him. "What about you, did you get any sleep?"

Jaden gets a sad look on his face, "I don't sleep."

"What do you mean you don't sleep, everyone has to sleep." Jubilee inquires, "Does it have anything to do with your powers?"

"No, it's just that….. I just don't sleep, okay?" Jaden says.

Jubilee tries to inquire further, "But….." Jaden interrupts Jubilee, "I just don't sleep, can we please just leave it at that?" He says as politely as he can.

Although he generally doesn't like a lot of people around, Jaden is relieved when a Nurse walks in to the room. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that you had a visitor." Says the nurse

The nurse looks at the two teens, and sees that they are holding hands. "Visiting hours doesn't officially start until 9:00, but if you two promise to keep quiet, I don't see any problem with your friend staying." Says the nurse, realizing that there is probably some sort of relationship between the two.

The phone by Jubilee's bed rings, and the nurse answers it for Jubilee who can't reach it due to her injuries. The nurse looks at Jubilee, and hands her the receiver, "Ms. Lee, it's a boy named Bobby. He says that he's your boyfriend"

"Oh no, what am I going to say to him?" Jubilee thinks to herself.

Jubilee doesn't notice the sudden sinking feeling coming from Jaden. He quietly slips his hand from hers, and disappears into a shadow in the corner of the room near Jubilee's bed.

The nurse is too preoccupied with Jubilee to notice Jaden leaving. She looks over to the chair where Jaden once was to find an empty seat. "Where did your friend go?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Limbo Dimension::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They find a place to hide, but Belasco is following close behind.

"What are we going to do Kurt?" Asks Amanda.

"I don't know, Kurt takes off the teleportation enhancer, Looks like this thing was a one way ticket. Can't you get us out the same way you got here?"

"I don't know how Kurt. How do you do it?"

Kurt replies, "I just think of a place and Poof….. Wait!" Kurt removes the pendant from around his neck that Mrs. Sefton gave him. " She said that this would help us."

"But how?" Asks Amanda.

"I don't kno….."

Suddenly an energy blast blows up the rocks above their heads. Kurt grabs Amanda by the arm, and they bolt out of area.

"What is with this guy?" Says Kurt, "What does he want from us?"

Amanda replies, "It's my pendant, he says it's some sort of key that can free him , but the gem is broken, and my mother has the other…. KURT!!!!! Give me gem my mother gave you."

She removes the gem from the chain, and places it into the open slot in her pendant. The crack in the gem begins to glow, then the gem is whole again.

Kurt says, "Okay, now what?"

"I don't know?" Amanda replies in a panic

Belasco picks up Kurt, and energy ball in hand, he punches Kurt sending him flying into the rock wall, knocking him unconscious. Amanda rushes to his side, and tries to wake him up.

"Kurt, Kurt, Wake up, Please Wake Up!"

Amanda kneels next to Kurt, and begins to cry. Meanwhile Belasco slowly draws closer to them.

Amanda Weeps, "I just want to go home….. I just want to go home….."

As an ominous shadow slowly covers them, Amanda leans over onto Kurt's unconscious body. The Soulsword pendant is in her hand. As she lies on Kurt crying, one of her tears rolls down her cheek onto her hand. The tear continues down the back of her hand, and lands on the gem.

"I just want to go home….. I just want to go home….."

The Soulsword Pendant begins to glow. A bright disk starts to grow below Kurt and Amanda. Belasco sees the disk, and starts running towards Kurt and Amanda. The disk continues to grow, until it encompasses Kurt and Amanda. Belasco dives into the glowing disk. There is a bright flash. Kurt and Amanda are gone leaving Belasco kneeling on the ground. In a bellowing voice, Belasco lets out a sorrowful yell.

"Noooooo!!!!!"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville Park:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rogue is crouched down behind a tree intently watching Gambit walk along a path near one of the many little ponds in the Bayville Park. She shifts her weight slightly, and hears the sound of a twig snap beneath her foot. She instantly looks down at her foot, and curses quietly to herself. Rogue then looks back to where Gambit was to find that he has disappeared. She slowly stands up and looks around, trying to find him when she hears a voice from the branch above her.

"What you looking for Cher?"

Rogue literally jumps out of her skin with fright. "You dirty Rat! What are you dong sneaking up one people like that!"

Gambit silently drops down to the ground from the tree branch he was crouching on.

"I might ask you the same question Cherie." Gambit says coyly.

"I'm keeping an eye on you!" Rogue quips, "I know that you're up to something."

"Gambit always knew that Cher had an eye for him, but believe me Cherie, Gambit is not up to anything."

Rogue scans the features of Gambit's face and finds what appears to a look of sincerity. As much as she distrusts him, she can't help but believe him. She takes a long few minutes to think about what to do next. She can't seem to understand the strange feelings that she has towards the Swamp Rat. During the extent of their so called acquaintance, he tried to blow her up, and kidnapped her. Not to mention the fact that he worked for the arch-nemesis of the X-Men. Rogue is deep in thought until she is brought back to reality by Gambit. "What you think'n bout Cher?"

Rogue looks up at Gambit before finally formulating her thoughts. "Why do you work for that Bucket head, Magneto anyway?" Rogue cautiously asks, you don't seem the type to buy into Magneto's rederic, and his methods of doing things don't seem to be your style?"

"Gambit has his reasons Cher. Gambit has done many tings in his life that he is not proud of, and working for de Bucket Head doesn't even rank in the top ten of bad things Gambit has done."

"I can't believe that. I've absorbed your memories before, I don't remember anything that could be worse that being one of Magneto's henchmen."

"Believe me Cher. You don't want to know about Gambit's past."

Suddenly, a flock of chirping birds unexpectedly fly between Rogue and Gambit, startling the two. Instantaneously, three nearby trees grow red and explode. Gambit dives forward, and tackles Rogue to the ground, using his heavy coat to shield them from flying pieces of debris as the trees are splintered.

Rogue looks up at Gambit from her precarious position, and pushes him off of her. "What's you game here Swamp Rat!" Says Rogue as she scans the surrounding area expecting to see his fellow Acolytes moving in for an ambush.

* * *

Thanx for reading, and please don't forget to review.


	7. Hellos and Goodbyes

I must say, I all but had given up on this fic. I had the last chapter filed away on my computer, and decided to post it just for the hell of it. However, since a few of you have taken the time to post reviews, I would be happy to continue one. I still have a lot of Ideas for this fic, and I guess the only way to finally put them to rest is to write out this fic, and post them. So, here is the next chapter. Enjoy, and please don't forget to review.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.

Replies:

Chica De Los Ojos: Hehe everyone else's powers were going out of control on the show, why not Remy's? Hehe

rage-girl-05: Thanx, I hope that you like what I have planned.

ANGLEOZD: At first, I had some issues with the whole Amanda thing on the show, but by not making them step brother and sister, they really opened up a lot of potential story wise.

PyrosFallenAngel: Well, just as you asked, I'm writing more.

* * *

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville Park:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"What's you game here Swamp Rat!" Says Rogue as she scans the surrounding area expecting to see his fellow Acolytes moving in for an ambush.

Gambit non-challantly dusts him self off while paying no mind to Rogue current posture. "Your Welcome Cher"

"What do ya mean Your Welcome!" Rogue exclaims slightly miffed at Gambit's obliviousness. "Trees just don't go exploding by themselves y'know!"

"Cher, Calm down. Gambit just having a rough day das all."

"Wait a minute….. You did that? But you didn't touch any of the trees?"

"There's a lot you don't know about ol'Gambit. He will have to fill you in sometime, but Gambit has some tings to take care of." With that, Gambit turns and begins to walk away, but not before Rogue reaches out and tries to grab a hold of his arm.

Gambit turns his head and gives Rogue a "Please don't push the issue" look. Rogue picks up on the vibe, and decides to let it go. But what was she to do. If Gambit had the power to reduce trees to a pile of tooth picks with a passing thought, what could he do if he actually tried to focus them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Xavier Institute Infirmary::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Amanda slowly opens her eyes to see Kurt standing over her. She looks around, and sees her mother in her father's arms, both of them smiling. She looks to the left, and sees Professor Xavier and Storm in the doorway. She grabs at her neck feeling for her pendant. She finds it, grabs a hold of it. She breathes a sigh of relief, and lies back in her bed.

"Was it all a dream?" She asks out loud not directed to anyone in particular.

Kurt answers, "No Liebchen, You saved us both, and now everything is going to be fine. Your mother and Professor Xavier have used their powers to stabilize your abilities, so you should no longer teleport without warning, but you'll still have to learn how to control your powers."

Amanda, smiles and lays back into her bed, "Wait! Mom you're a Mutant?!?!?!"

Mrs. Sefton Smiles, "Don't worry Dear, we'll have a lot of time to talk during the plane ride."

Amanda sits up in her bed, "What plane ride? Where are we going? What about Kurt?????"

Kurt takes Amanda's hand in his, "I know this is hard, but this is what's best. Your parents are taking to Germany where you can learn how to control your powers."

Amanda's eyes begin to tear, "Why can't I stay here with you at the Institute. Can't Professor Xavier help, an-and who better to teach me to teleport than you?"

Obviously suffering, Kurt turns away, "This is what is best Liebchen."

Mrs. Sefton sits on the edge of the bed. "Amanda sweetie, I know that this is hard, and that it isn't fair after all that you have been through, but…..Well, You have to learn to master your powers, and you will not be able to do that here. You have to go train with the clan elders. They can best teach you how to use your powers."

Amanda begins to cry, "But…..but….."

Kurt Realizes that he has to be strong, and put his feeling aside to ensure Amanda's well being. As much as he wants to be with her, he knows that now that Belasco knows that Amanda has the power to free him, he will stop at nothing to capture her. Unless she can master her powers, she will never be safe from Belasco.

"Liebchen, I don't want this either, but it is what is best. We'll always have each other, no matter where we are in the world. And Germany is a beautiful country, and maybe you'll even see the circus where I grew up."

Amanda begins to cry, not sure what to do. She and Kurt hug as the Professor and Storm exit the room. Mr. Sefton walks up beside his wife, and wraps his arm around his wife. They smile at each other, then look back at Amanda and Kurt. A lone tear falls from Mrs. Sefton's eye.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Los Angeles California:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jaden is wondering the streets of Los Angeles deep in thought. He still is conflicted with these strange feelings that he is having. Why was this girl so different? What was it about her that made it so difficult for him to let go. He saved her life, but does that make him responsible for her? And then there was her Boy Friend. "Of course she would have a boyfriend." Jaden says to himself out loud. "Why wouldn't she have a boy friend."

Jaden had been meandering around aimlessly ever since he left the hospital. He wasn't really going anywhere in particular. Just walking without a purpose. Jaden suddenly looks up to see that he is back at Jubilee's High School. He gives the area a quick scan, and realizes that he is in the exact spot where he first saw Jubilee get attacked. Even Jaden couldn't deny the coincidence of being brought back to that exact spot.

Meanwhile back in Jubilee's room at the hospital, Jubilee has just spent the last hour on the phone in a very once sided conversation with Bobby. Things between her and Bobby have been strained ever since her parents brought her back to Los Angeles. Most of the conversation was Bobby asking over and over again how she was doing, and if she was going to be alright. Jubilee wanted to say more, but for some reason, she couldn't find the words. She had all but forgotten about Bobby once she had met Jaden, a fact that was the source of much guilt on her part. This however, was nothing compared her growing anxiety that a group of anti-mutant activists would charge in any minute, and throw her out of the window. Jubilee wasn't sure what here feelings were for Jaden. It wasn't love, or affection, but the thing that she was sure of was that she felt safe when she was around him.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville Park::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rogue stands at watches as Gambit walks down the path back towards the small pond that he was standing at before she distracted him. Rogue believed that he was sincere when he said that he was not up to anything nepharious, but her curiosity was peaked. She runs down along the path to catch up to the Cajun.

"Gambit wait."

Gambit stops and turns around to look up the path at the in coming Rogue. "Cher, Gambit promises that he……"

"Ya I know, and I believe you." Says Rogue as she stops in front of Gambit, " But….."

Rogue pauses a second.

"But what Cher?"

"Errr, can I just walk with you for a bit. I promise that I won't say anything." She says sheepishly.

"You can do whatever you want with Gambit Cher. He not gonna stop ya" Gambit says coyly.

That said, the two continue to walk down the path along the pond. They follow along the path as it goes up an embankment that overlooks the pond. The path is weathered and undercut. There are several signs along the path warning about the dangerous state of the path.

Gambit turns to Rogue, "We should turn back Cher. Dis isn't safe."

They stand at the edge of the embankment looking down into the pond. Rogue turns to look up at Gambit when the ground beneath her gives way. Gambit reaches out and grabs her by the arm. The fingers sticking out through his fingerless gloves touch Rogue's bare skin. Instantaneously, Rogue powers begin to absorb Gambit's life energy. A shock goes through Gambit's body as his energy is drained from him. As Gambit's powers begin to serge through Rogue's body, it begins to be too much for her. Suddenly, trees and rocks all around them begin to glow red. One after another, a chain reaction of explosions begin to go off all around them as they both fall into the murky pond.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Los Angeles Hospital::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

For reasons unknown to him, Jaden had returned to the hospital. He could have easily just shadow ported into her room, but for some reason, he felt that he should use the door. As if for some reason, it would be rude to do otherwise. He stands in the hospital elevator looking up at the lighted numbers as the elevator moves up the shaft towards the floor that Jubilee's room was on.

The elevator finally reaches the floor. As the elevator doors open, Jaden looks out to see Jubilee's parents waiting to board the elevator.

"Errr….. Um Hi Mr. and Mrs. Lee." Jaden says shyly.

"Hello Jaden" Says Mr. Lee as he reaches out to shake Jaden's hand.

Before Jaden has a chance to let go of Mr. Lee's hand, much to his dismay, Jubilee's mother pulls Jaden in for a big hug. Jaden gives Mr. Lee a pathetic "help me!" look of distress. Picking up on the signal, Mr. Lee gently pulls his overly affectionate wife off of Jaden, and walks with her into the elevator. "Come now Dear, Jaden as a few things to discuss with Jubilee.

Jaden looks quizzically at Mr. Lee as the elevator doors close. As if he wasn't nervous enough as it is, what Mr. Lee just said fills him with a sense of impending doom. Not knowing what else to do, Jaden makes the long walk down the hall to Jubilee's room.

After several minutes, Jaden finds himself totally and completely lost. When he went to Jubilee's room before, he just Shadow ported from the building outside her window. Now that he was in the hospital, he was lost in the maze of corridors. He asked one of the nurses for assistance, and with her help he was able to figure out that Jubilee's first name was really Jubilation, and the nurse was able to point him in the right direction.

After wondering the halls of the hospital, Jaden finally arrives at Jubilee's room. He hesitates for a moment before finally entering her room. Jubilee is lying in her bed watching the television. Jaden starts to get second thoughts and tries to leave the room. He is almost out the door when he hears Jubilee's voice from behind him.

"Where ya going?"

"Errrr…. Um….. I didn't want to disturb you. It was a mistake for me to come here" Jaden tries to leave, but he hears Jubilee groan from the pain as she tries to sit up in her bed. Jaden immediately turns around and rushes to her side. "What are you doing, you're going to hurt yourself more."

"Don't worry about it" Jubilee sighs, "It's not as bad as it seems."

Jaden gives Jubilee a skeptical look as she tries to put on a brave face.

"Umm…. So your parents said that we had something to talk about?"

Jubilee winces in pain as she sits up in her bed. The momentary discomfort on her face is quickly replaced by a smile. "Actually yes we do"

Jaden again begins to be filled with a sense of foreboding. "Ummm, what?"

Jubilee perks up in her bed. She seems excited, something that Jaden has not seen in her the whole time that he has known her.

"My parents have decided that it would be better for me, and safer if I went back to the Xavier Institute." Jubilee says cheerfully.

Jaden's heart sinks, although he doesn't really know why. He barely knows this girl, so why should he care whether or not she goes back to whatever Institute that she went to. "So, I guess that means that you and your boyfriend can be back together."

Jubilee's cheerful disposition suddenly turns somber. "Well, I'm happy that I will be able to see Bobby again, but things between us have changed, and we will definitely have to have a long talk, but that is not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it then?"

"My parents and I have talked it over with Professor Xavier, and he says that if you want, you can come to the Institute too. My parents will pay for everything."

"Me? W-Why?"

"Why not?" Jubilee says slightly confused. "You'd be around other mutants, and Professor X can help you learn how to use your powers."

"I don't know….." Jaden says as he rubs the back of his neck. "A-And I can have your parents paying for me to go to some Institute."

"Jaden, you saved my life, and as far as my parents are concerned, it is the least that they can do."

"Yeah but….."

"And it will get you off of the streets!" Jubilee blurts out before realizing that what she just said was very rude. "I-I-I mean" Jubilee hangs her head.

"I don't know Jubilee. I mean I do all right for myself."

"But you live in a Motel, and I don't even know how you're getting money. I assume that you're stealing it." Jubilee checks herself again for blurting out words with out thinking. "I'd really like it if you came."

"Jubilee, I just don't know……"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Bayville Airport:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next morning, Kurt, and the Seftons' are at the terminal of the Bayville Airport. Kurt is helping Amanda's father unload their luggage out of the trunk of a car. Mr. Sefton extends his hand to shake hands with Kurt. Kurt is hesitant because even though his holographic inducer projects the appearance of a normal human boy, Mr. Sefton will still feel that he has only three fingers. Mr. Sefton smiles and takes Kurt's hand in his. Kurt smiles, and shakes his hand.

"Please tell Professor Xavier thank you for letting us use his car to give us a ride to the airport." Says Mr. Sefton.

"No problem Sir," Kurt replies, " it's no problem, no problem at all."

Kurt turns and Mrs. Sefton gives him a big hug. "Thank you for all that you've done Kurt, We'll never forget it."

Finally, Kurt walks up to Amanda. They embrace in a long hug. Kurt puts up a brave face, while Amanda's eyes begin to tear. They break their hug for a moment.

Amanda wipes the tears from her face, "Are you sure you can't come with us?"

"No, as much as I would like to go with you, I am most needed here. My place is here with the X-men, just like yours is with your Gypsy clan in Germany."

Amanda takes off a necklace from around her neck, and puts it around Kurt's. Kurt looks down at it. It is a piece of the blue gem from her Soulsword Pendant.

Amanda hugs Kurt again, "As long as you wear this, although we may not be together, we will never ever be apart."

Amanda reaches down to Kurt's watch, and turns off his holographic inducer. Kurt is shocked that everyone can see his true form. Before he has a chance to react, Amanda gives him a kiss. The noise, the people walking by, Kurt's fear of people seeing him. All these things fade away as Kurt and Amanda have one last private moment together.

As much as they both would like to stay in this moment together forever, the moment ends. Amanda switches Kurt's inducer back on. They hug one last time before Amanda and her parents enter the terminal. Kurt climbs into the limousine and the car pulls away from the terminal. As the car makes its way back to the Institute, Kurt sits in the back. He takes the gem Amanda gave him into his hand. He looks down at it. He closes his eyes, and rests his head against the back of the seat. He turns off his inducer, and a single tear falls and rolls down his cheek.

* * *

Thanx for reading. Hope you liked the chapter, and please don't forget to review. 


	8. Nightmares

Sorry this Chapter took so long. I had a really weird case of writer's block. I have the entire plot mapped out, but what stuck on what to write. Basically, I knew what I wanted to write, but I didn't know how to write it. If that makes any sense. Well, here is the next chapter. Enjoy, and please don't forget to review.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Marvel Universe. The only characters that I own are my original characters.

Replies:

Chica De Los Ojos Café: Well, without giving too much away, you should read the other parts too because eventually, all the story lines will meet up in the ending.

ANGLEOZD: Okay. ':)

* * *

Rogue is lying on a stainless steel examination table. She is anestitized, but can still feel the coldness of the steel. A woman dressed all in white proceeds to shave his head while what appears to be a doctor prepares scalpels, clamps and various other operating instruments.

The nurse finishes shaving Rogue's head, and the Doctor, also dressed all in white, approaches the exam table. He places a stainless steel tray with his operating instruments neatly arranged on it on a swing arm table mounted to the exam table. As the doctor looks down through his red eyes at Rogue, the doctor picks up a scalpel, and begins making an incision into Rogue's frontal lobe. A steady stream of blood begins to trickle down the side of Rogue's head and the Doctor continues to operate.

The Doctor finishes making his incision, and then puts the now bloody scalpel back on the tray on the swing arm table. He then picks up what appears to be a drill. He revs the motor on the drill a few times before drilling a hole into Rogue's skull, being careful not to pierce her brain which would lobotomize her instantly. The Doctor pushes the drill into Rogue's skull making a disturbing grinding sound in the process.

Suddenly, Rogue wakes up screaming. She sits up and feels her head frantically. She finds that she still has her hair, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of someone drilling into her head. She looks around her unfamiliar surroundings. She is sitting up on a sofa. There is a large throw rug on the floor. Coffee tables, lamps, end tables, a bookshelf with lots of books, the works. However, as she turns and looks behind her, she realizes that she is actually in what appears to be a large abandoned warehouse. Just as things can't seem to get any weirder, a nearby door opens and out comes Gambit holding a cup of soup.

"Where am I" Asks Rogue, still very confused.

"Gambit comes here to get away from ol'Bucket Head and the other Acolytes." Says Gambit as he offers Rogue the cup of soup. I brought you here after what happened in the park.

"T-The Park?" Rogue places the cup of soup on the coffee table, then hunches over, and holds her head. "I remember falling, and then you grabbed me. Everything started exploding, and then I blacked out."

"You blew up the pond when you absorbed Gambit's powers Cher. When Gambit came to, the area was roped off by de police, so he had to get you and him out of there quick."

"I've never felt that much power before…" Rogue says trying to shake off the effects of her absorption hang over. "A-And that dream."

"Dream?" Gambit inquires.

"Yeah, there was a Nurse who shaved my head, a-and some doctor with weird red eyes drilling a hole in my head." Rogue hunches over and clutches her throbbing head.

Gambit stands before Rogue completely dumbfounded. Rogue looks up at Gambit's shocked face, and sees that he seems to be staring out into empty space. "What is it Gambit?"

"Dat was no dream Cher. Dat was a memory"

:Los Angeles Hospital:

Its 3:00 in the morning and Jaden is sitting in the dark at Jubilee's bed side. Visiting hours had long since ended, but Jubilee's parents gave Jaden permission to stay with her, so the Nurses just left him alone. Jaden had a lot to think about. He was always independent ever since he left New York. He never relied on anyone for anything since SHE died when he was a child.

There wasn't really anything keeping him in L.A., but then again he only knew Jubilee for two days, and now her parents want to pay for him to go with her to some Institute.

Then, there was the whole Boyfriend thing. Not that Jaden was interested in a relationship, but he also wasn't totally against the idea. It was a lot for a person to try and absorb. Jaden reminisces about when he left New York. That wasn't true, he didn't leave, he ran away.

Jaden's thoughts are interrupted when Jubilee rustles in her sleep. He can see her face tense up as she winces in pain from her injuries. Jaden realizes that going back to New York would be in the best interest for Jubilee's well being. Her friends were there, and she would be safe at the institute from Anti-Mutant extremists. Well, safer anyway.

:Bayville Park:

Police offices walk the perimeter of the scene as on lookers try to get a better look at the once green grove of trees. The police have the entire area roped off, and are trying to determined what may have caused the grove to spontaneously explode. Logan skulks out of the shadows of scorched trees, using his keen sense of smell to detect any trace of what may have happened. Most importantly, what happened to Rogue? He tracks her scent along the path to the edge of a small pond when he stops suddenly. He directs his nose into the wind to get a better whiff of what he has detected. After a quick second, Logan slumps over slightly and shakes his head. "Come on out Small Fry"

That said, Kitty phases out from behind a nearby tree with her head hung low. More for being caught, than for obviously disobeying the Professor and Logan by following him to the park.

"What are you doing here Small Fry I thought I told you to stay at the mansion?"

"Well actually, you said not to follow you. So, I walked here on my own." Kitty says with a slight smile before hanging her head at the sight of Logan's disapproval of her witty retort. "But Mr. Logan I had to come and help, I was the last person to see her, and you'd need me to help you figure out what happened."

Logan shakes his head again, and decides to let her stay. If anything because he knew that she wouldn't go back to the mansion no matter how aggravated he got. "Alright you can stay, but stay out of my way; we don't need you messing up tracks or anything that might help."

Kitty nods her head obediently, and follows close behind Logan. Logan crouches down and examines a set of foot prints on the ground. He looks up and follows the footprints along the path. He intently follows the tracks until he is slightly startled by the sight of Kitty right in front of him. "Du…. Kitty! I told you not to get in my way!"

Kitty looks at Logan blankly. "What, I'm not messing up the foot prints. I'm not even touching the ground."

Logan looks down and sure enough, she's literally walking on air, and Kitty's feet aren't touching the ground. He looks up and gives her a disgruntled look. Kitty gets the hint and walks out of the way. "You would think I would get some credit for learning a new trick." Kitty huffs.

:Los Angeles Hospital:

Jubilee is startled from her peaceful slumber as she feels her bed violently shake. She winces in pain as she tries to sit up. She looks around the room to find Jaden hunched over the foot of her bed. He appears to be asleep, but he is whimpering loudly and his arms flail about. Jubilee tries to reach forward, but her injuries make it difficult. She pushes through the pain, and manages to reach forward and nudge his shoulder. A split second after she makes contact with him; Jaden wakes up and slaps her hand away. He springs to his feet, and after a quick second, he gets his bearings.

"W-What happened?" Jaden asks quizzically.

"You fell asleep, and from the looks of it, you were having a nightmare."

Jaden hangs his head in shame from his momentary lapse in self control. He knew what it was from. He had grown too comfortable around Jubilee, and let down his mental barriers. He dozed off. He knew that if he stayed with her, he would only get more comfortable around her. Eventually, it may get to the point where he would fall into a deeper sleep, something he was terrified that if he did, he would never be able to wake up from.

Jubilee gives Jaden a long look, and ponders what he is thinking. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" Jaden says as he snaps out of his trance. "I should go."

"No you're not!" Jubilee demands, surprising Jaden and herself with the tone of her voice. "You've been running your entire life, and it's time that you stop."

"Jubilee, you don't understand….."

"No I don't" Jubilee interrupts, "but I want to. You saved my life, and now you're responsible for it, and at the same time, because you saved my life, I'm responsible for yours."

"Jubilee, I….." Jaden Stammers.

"I need you Jaden, and whether or not you want to admit it, you need me."

Jaden resumes his seat at Jubilee's bed side. "Jubilee….."

:Warehouse Somewhere in Bayville:

Rogue and Gambit sit in awkward silence. She sips from the cup of soup that Gambit gave her, and tries not to think about the throbbing headache that she has. Gambit, not really paying much attention to Rogue, is sitting in a chair across from her. The stillness of the room is finally disturbed when Rogue placed her cup on the coffee table, and stands up. "I should go. Everyone at the mansion is probably going nuts wondering where I am."

"Eui Cher" Is all that Gambit can say.

"Ummm so how do I get out of here?" Rogue asks uneasily.

Gambit gets up from his seat, and begins to escort Rogue out when they are both startled by the sound of breaking glass. An instant later, Gambit is tackled to the ground by Wolverine. Rogue tries to tell him to stop, but before she has a chance to, Kitty reaches through the wall and phases Rogue out. As Gambit and Wolverine wrestle about in the warehouse, Kitty and Rogue phase out into an alley behind it.

"What are you doing Kitty!"

"Well, like, isn't that a nice thank you for rescuing your butt!" Kitty retorts.

"I didn't need rescuing; he was taking me back to the mansion." Rogue says angrily with her arms flailing. "Now phase us back in there before Mr. Logan Kills him!"

Gambit and Wolverine are still wrestling with each other in the warehouse. Gambit rolls onto his back and kicks Wolverine off of him. Wolverine turns in mid air and lands on his feet again before charging back at Gambit. Gambit, not expecting Wolverine to recover so fast, falls back into a wall. A red glow begins to cover his body. First at his hands as if her were getting ready to charge something to throw, and then up this arms over his entire body.

The two girls phase back into the warehouse just in time to see Wolverine try to stick Gambit in the chest with his claws. "No Stop!" Rogue calls out.

Wolverine dives at Gambit Claws ready to shred into him, but to everyone's amazement, the moment Wolverine made contact with Gambit's glowing body, an explosion sends Wolverine flying back, knocking over the couch in the process. The two girls look at each other, and then at Gambit, and then back at each other.

"I didn't know he could do that?" Kitty says quizzically.

"Neither did I Petit" Gambit says to the girls, equally shocked himself.

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Hope you like the chapter. I'll try to post more frequently now that I got this chapter out of the way. 


	9. Letters from the Edge

As promised, here is the next chapter. It takes place three weeks after the events of the last chapter.

I don't own X-Men, someone who gets paid a lot more money, and works a lot less harder than I do does. sigh

Replies:

ANGLEOZD: Yeah, I like mysterious characters. It really leave a lot to the imagination.

Chica De Los Ojos Café: I don't know about weird, But I'll take any compliment I can get.

elmo the cajun puppet: I'm deffinitly drawing from the comics, But I'm a fan of the road not taken, so this fic is based on a plot line that was not really pursued by the Comic book writers.

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Dear Kitty,

I know that this must be strange getting a letter from me out of the blue, but trust me when I say that this is a very hard thing for me to do. Although we never really hung out much, I always thought that you were really cool, and enjoyed your company the few times that we did stuff together. Kurt always thought of you as one of his best friends, so I know that you are someone that I can trust.

I'm sure that you can probably figure out that the main reason that I am writing you is to check on Kurt. I know that you are not the person who I should be writing to, but things between me and Kurt are, well strange is the only word that I can think of right now. I know that my leaving for Germany was very hard on Kurt. Hurting him was the last thing that I wanted to do. He must feel so alone right now, and I just don't know what to say to him. Every time I try to sit down and write him a letter, I end up staring at a blank piece of paper for an hour or so.

I don't know why, but this time when I sat down in another attempt to write Kurt a letter, I thought of you, and here I am. I don't know why I find it easier to share my feelings with someone I barely know. Perhaps that writing this letter to you will help me organize my thoughts so that I can write a letter to Kurt. I really want to let him know that my thoughts are always with him, and that I love him very much. Why is it so hard?

I'm doing fine. The plane ride was really long. We arrived in Munich, then had a three hour drive, and another five hour ride by horse drawn cart before we got to our final destination. We are cut off from everything. There are no phones, or televisions. In order to get this to you I have to have someone carry this letter to a near by town that has mail service. I feel like I am on the edge of the world here.

My dad had to return to New York for his job, but my mother is still here with me. She is slowly retraining her powers, so I'm not going through this alone. The training keeps me pretty busy, and I can even forget about how much I miss Kurt for a while. I even have fun sometimes, but as soon as I sit down, I start thinking about him, and the sadness returns.

I would appreciate it if you didn't tell Kurt about this letter. I don't want him to get the wrong idea. I will try to write him, but until then could you please just let me know how he is doing? How is he taking my leaving, and is he alright? Well, I guess that will be it from me. I hope that all is well with you. Take care, and thanks Kitty.

Sincerely,

Amanda

It has been three weeks since Amanda left for Germany. Kurt is sitting in his room looking out the window. Amanda leaving was very hard on him. He tried not to let it get him down so much, but it was hard not to think about her. The summer was fast approaching, but instead of sharing in on the excitement that the other students had, he took to keeping to himself. His day pretty much consisted of School, Danger Room training, and mopeing about. Even Wolverine said that he was getting depressed watching him. Kurt really didn't care what the others thought. Amanda was his first girlfriend ever. At the time, she was the first non-mutant besides his foster parents who accepted him for who he really was.

"I wonder what she is doing right now?" Kurt thinks to himself as he looks down at the pendant that Amanda gave him, "Why hasn't she written or anything?"

"Her parents said that the camp they were going to was really secluded, but I should have heard from her by now."

There is a knock at the door. Kurt assumes that it's probably Kitty again. She has been acting weird lately, always trying to get him to talk about Amanda. Sometimes it was nice to talk about it, but he didn't feel like it right now.

Kitty phases through the door, and peaks into Kurt's room. "Kurt, like are you here?"

She hears a voice coming from a big chair near the window. It is turned with its back facing the door, so she couldn't see Kurt sitting in it. "Over here Kitty."

"Are you going to sit in here sulking all day again?" Asks Kitty

Kurt tucks his pendant into his shirt. "Leave me alone Kitty."

Kurt tries to teleport, but Kitty grabs his arm. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

There is a puff of smoke and they are gone from Kurt's room.

:Xavier Institute Front Entrance:

Scott and Professor X wait at the front door of the Xavier Institute as a car pulls up to the Mansion. Mr. Lee steps out of the driver's seat, and walks over to the trunk of the car as Mrs. Lee opens the back door and helps Jubilee out of the car. As Scott walks over to Mr. Lee to help with the luggage, he is almost knocked to the ground as Amara and Tabitha come racing out the Mansion door, straight to Jubilee. The two girls practically tackle Jubilee, pinning her against the car.

"Ow, take it easy girls, I'm still a bit banged up." Jubilee says to the two overly excited girls.

"Oh, Sorry about that Jubes." Amara apologizes, "So are you okay?"

"Yeah, we were worried when we heard what those creeps did to you." Tabby adds before Amara elbows her in the side.

Tabitha is about to say something when the driver's side back door opens and Jaden steps out of the car. "Whoa who's the cute Asian Boy!" Tabitha says before getting another elbow in the side from Amara.

"So, who is your friend Jubes?" Amara asks.

"That's Jaden, he's a mutant and has come to live here at the Institute too."

"You had a boyfriend in L.A.? what about Bo….." Amara elbows Tabby in the side again. "A-hey, will you quit doing that Mara?"

"He's not my boyfriend, we're just friends, but I do have to have a talk with Bobby."

"Oooh, are you gonna break up with Bobby?" Tabitha side steps quickly to avoid Amara's incoming elbow. "Ha! ya missed me!"

Amara points a finger at Tabby's foot causing the soles of her shoes to melt and stick to the ground. Amara elbows her in the side again and runs into the mansion. "Hay! Come back here!" Tabby shouts as her arms flail about, "You owe me a new pair of shoes!"

Jaden makes his way over to Jubilee with a quizzical expression on his face. "Does stuff like this happen here all the time?" Jaden asks.

"No," Jubilee says plainly, "actually, they are behaving themselves since my parents are here."

"What have I gotten myself into?" Jaden huffs as he follows Jubilee and her parents into the mansion.

Meanwhile, Tabitha is still flailing about as her feet are still stuck to the ground. "A-hay, a little help here?"

Scott looks over his shoulder and shoots a short optic blast at Tabby's feet, un-sticking them, and causing her to fall to the ground. "Thanks a lot Scott." Tabby huffs as she rubs her butt.

:Bayville Park:

Rogue walks along a path through the Bayville park. She eventually comes to the grove where she and Gambit had the accident that literally blew up the area. The Police tape still marks off the small grove. As far as she knows, the police still haven't been able to figure out what happened. She walks around the edge of the grove, and notices that flowers have begun to sprout in the charred soil. This sight brings a smile to her face as she crouches down to examine the little buds.

"You have a pretty smile Cher, you should do it more often." A voice says from behind her, slightly startling her.

Rogue stands up and turns to face Gambit. "What are you doing here?" Rogue asks, trying very poorly to act miffed.

"The same ting you are doing here" Gambit says with a wry smile.

Much to the disapproval of Logan, Rogue had been spending more and more time with Gambit over the past few weeks. Gambit had gone to great lengths to keep his meetings with Rogue a secret from Magneto. With the help of Piotr, Gambit had been sneaking out of the acolyte compound without Magneto being any the wiser.

They weren't necessarily dating, just enjoying each other's company. Although the contents of that memory that she had gotten from Gambit still tugged at her curiosity. Gambit refused to talk about it or anything else about his past. She understood though, as there were aspects from her past that she didn't want to talk about either.

The two spent the day as they did every other day during the past three weeks. Walking through the park in comfortable silence.

:Xavier Institute:

With a puff of smoke Kurt and Kitty re-appear on the Institute roof. Kitty begins to lose her balance, but Kurt grabs her, and helps steady her.

"Like Whoa!" Expounds Kitty, "So, this is where you have been hiding the last few weeks."

Kurt sits down resting his chin on his knees. Kitty sits down next to him, they're shoulders touching, partly as a sign that she is there for him, but mostly so he won't teleport leaving her on the roof.

"Kurt, I know that things have been rough for you since Amanda left, but….." Kitty wonders if she should tell Kurt about Amanda's letter. "Well, I know that she really cares about you a lot."

Kitty received Amanda's letter three days ago, and has been debating whether or not to tell Kurt. It pains her to see her friend hurting so much, but she isn't sure how he'll take finding out that Amanda wrote her a letter, and not him. Even though most of the letter was about him, he could still take it the wrong way. Although, she knows that Kurt is dying to find out if Amanda is alright or not. Right now, all she is sure of is that she has to be there for her friend.

"I mean like, she totally was crush'n on you even though you're like a fuzzy little elf." Kitty says with a smirk.

Kurt gives Kitty a fake reassuring smile, and returns to sulking.

"Well, if she cares about me so much, Why haven't I heard from her in almost three weeks?" Kurt retorts.

"I'm sure that she is just really busy." Says Kitty, "I mean she has gone through a lot Kurt." "Between having to deal with her new powers, finding out that her mother was a mutant and didn't tell her, and let's not forget about that psycho guy waiting to capture her every time she teleports."

"I know, but I would have thought that I would have at least heard from her by now." Kurt says sadly. "I got a phone call from her when she was in Munich, but nothing since."

"Well, like Duh! They don't even have phones or televisions where she's at." Kitty blerts out, before realizing that Kurt doesn't know any details of where Amanda is.

"Errrrr….. Like, I would guess." Kitty tries to recover, "I mean she is from a family of Gypsies"

Kurt sits up and looks at Kitty puzzled, "Is there something wrong, you have been acting strange the last few days.

"Me…. No….." Kitty fidgets trying to hide what she is thinking, "Ummm, I'm just worried about you Kurt."

"As hard as it is to believe, I do care about you, ya fuzzy elf." Says Kitty.

Kurt forgets about it, chalking up to Kitty just being overly concerned. Kurt stands up and offers his hand to Kitty.

"Well, I'm going to go work out, and try to get my mind off of Amanda for a while." Kurt helps Kitty to her feet, "Care to join me?"

"No, I have some stuff to do in my room." Replies Kitty. She was planning on writing a reply to Amanda, and she figured that Kurt needed some time alone anyway.

"Maybe next time, Take care Kurt" Kitty phases down through the roof, leaving Kurt by himself.

Kitty pops her head up through the roof, "And Kurt, just remember that I'm here for ya if you need someone to talk to."

"Thank you Kitty, I will." Kurt says before he, teleports leaving a puff of smoke.

Dear Amanda,

Well, I was surprised to receive you letter. I'm glad to hear that you are doing okay. I always liked you, and thought that you and Kurt made a really cute couple. He literally lit up whenever he saw you. :) Every time I saw you two together, I wished that I had someone who would look at me like that.

He is taking your leaving really hard. He misses you, and sulks a lot. He really needs to hear from you. Even if it's just a postcard, I think that receiving any kind of contact from you will brighten his mood. I can't imagine how hard it is for you having to leave everything that you've known to become some Gypsy Priestess. I'm not entirely sure what it is that you are training in. Why couldn't you stay with us here at the Institute?

I don't know what I would do if I had to live somewhere without telephones or a t.v.. Not that I get to watch all that much television here, with the boys fighting over what to watch, or what video game to play. To make things easier, I find myself just watching whatever they are watching. Things have been a little quiet since Kurt was no longer there fighting over the t.v. with the other boys. He always annoyed me, always wanting to play his stupid video games whenever I wanted to watch a movie. Then the other boys would jump in, forcing me to leave in a huff. It's strange, but I miss the old Kurt.

I hope that this letter helps you in writing Kurt. He really does need to hear from you. Will you ever be able to come back? I mean, I know you kinda have to do this right now, but what about after you're done. That would be totally awesome if you could. I know that if Kurt at least knew that there was a chance that you could come back, he have some kind of hope to hold on to. That might be enough to break him out of this funk that he is in. I'm glad that I could be of any help, and let me know if you need any more advice. I don't know how much help my advice may be, but, I'll do what I can. Good luck with your training, and take care.

Yours Truly,

Kitty

* * *

Well I hope that you liked this chapter. There will be another short time jump next chapter and will take place a week after this one. For you Romy fans, sorry that there wasn't enough romyness in this chapter, but there ill be more in the coming chapters. Thanx for reading, and please don't forget to review. 


	10. A Night in the Life of Kitty

Hi all! No I haven't forgotten about my fics, I have just been super busy both at work and with my personal life. Long story short, I'm moving back to Hawaii in October, so I have a lot of stuff that needs to be taken care of before my cross country move. It may take me awhile, but I will finish this fic. It is always bugging me, and I still have a story that I want to tell. Well, I hope that you all like this chapter. It's nice and long. Hell, I've been working on it off and on for almost two months so it better be P. Enjoy, and please review.

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Dear Kitty,

Thank you so much for replying to my letter. I have been trying to write to Kurt, but I just don't what to say to him. I don't know what is wrong with me, I mean, before, I could tell him anything. Why is it that just because we no longer live in the same town that I, all of a sudden, don't know what to say? There is a part of me that just wants to sever all ties with him. Perhaps it would be best if I just write him and say that I don't want to be with him anymore. That maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

I realize that I am causing him a great deal of grief. It seems that it would be more humane to just let him get on with his life. I don't know if I'll ever be able to return to Bayville, or if we will ever see each other again, and it's unfair to Kurt to allow him to cling on to the hope that we'll one day be together again. Yes, it would be the humane thing to do... But, I can't. Yes there is a part of me that wants to end things with Kurt, but there is another part of me that wants to be with Kurt just as much. A part of me that says that no matter how far apart we are, we will always be together.

This is so stupid! It's all right here in this letter. Why can't I just tell him?

Kitty you really are a friend. I don't know why we weren't better friends. It's strange to think that I am sharing more with you now than I did when we were in the same school.

My training is going good. Basically, the main reason that I have to train here is because the Gypsies combine their power into something called the Winding Way. We all concede part of our power to it. We all can tap into it, but if we need to we can draw from the Winding Way to increase our power for a short time. The draw back is that if you do that, it leaves you powerless for a time. So, basically, they are teaching me how to tap the power from the Winding Way. The power that I'm able to harness even now as a beginner is amazing, but I would give it all up if things could be how they were before. Then I could be with…..

Thanks so much again Kitty for just being there for me. I really do appreciate it. It helps to be able to talk about it to someone, so to speak. I have to go now; my mother said that she wanted to see me about something. I hope that all is well with you, and take care.

Sincerely,

Amanda

Kurt is sitting up on the roof of the Xavier Institute. It has now been a month since Amanda left, and he still hasn't heard from her. Why hasn't she called, or written, or anything? He wonders. Could it be possible that they just weren't as close as he thought? Maybe she just moved on with her life. Kurt is deep in thought when Kitty phases up through the roof behind him. Kurt sees her shadow cast over him from behind.

"What is it Kitty? I'm really not in the mood."

"Ummmm.….well…..Kurt"

Kitty has debated for the last two weeks whether or not to show Kurt the letters he got from Amanda. She stands there looking at him sheepishly, holding the letters behind her back.

"Ummmmm…..Like, I know that you have been having a hard time since Amanda left, and you must be wondering why she never wrote you or anything, but Ummmm….." Kitty pulls the letters out from behind her and gives them to Kurt.

"She really does care about a lot Kurt. She just didn't like know how to say it. It's all in the letters."

Kurt starts reading the letters. He looks up, "Thank you Kitty."

"I'll leave you alone, but if you wanna talk….." she gives Kurt a reassuring smile.

Kurt looks up at Kitty and nods. Kitty phases down through the roof, leaving Kurt to read the letters. As the sun sets over the Xavier Mansion, Kurt sits on the roof of the Institute intently reading Amanda's letters to Kitty. When he finishes reading the letters, a smile appears on his face. The first real smile that he has had in a month.

**:Hall Way in the Girl's Wing of the Xavier Institute:**

Kitty phases through the ceiling, and drops into the hall way of the girl's wing of the institute. She lets out a tired yawn as she walked to her room, phasing through various pieces of furniture and tables on the way. As she walks by Rogue's door, she hears a pathetic thud and the soft sound of Rogue cursing to her self. Kitty phases her head through the door, and sees Rogue half hanging out of her window.

"What are you doing?" Kitty exclaims.

"Shhhh!" Rogue says as she hangs out of her second story window. "You're going to get me into trouble!"

Kitty phases the rest of the way through the door, and runs across the room and pulls Rogue back into the room. "What are you doing? Are you running away?"

"No I'm just going out." Rogue pouts as Kitty helps her back into the room.

"You're sneaking out to meet with that Gambit guy again aren't you?"

"Shhhh!" Rogue says, as she covers Kitty's mouth. "You know what will happen to me if Logan finds out!"

"Like yeah," Kitty says as she knocks Rogue's hand away from her mouth. "He's going to kill you, and then he'll ground you. What is it with you and this guy anyway?"

Rogue suddenly gets a dreary expression on her face as she stares at the floor. "I dunno," She shrugs.

"Well there must be something if you are willing to get grounded, and possibly get him killed in the process."

"W-What! I'm Not….. W-We're Not….. And ever if we wanted to, We Cant!" Rogue Stammers defensively.

"Like Eww, I really didn't need that mental image, and that's not what I was getting at." Kitty retorts, "But, if Mr. Logan finds out that you're sneaking out to meet with one of the Acolytes, he's going to hunt Gambit down and kill him, whether you guys are doing anything or not."

Rogue takes a long minute as she thinks things through. "Look, I just need to see this thing through. I don't really know what is going myself, but I know that I just like being around him. So, can you please keep this quiet and cover for me?"

"I don't know Rogue.' Kitty says hesitantly as she takes some time herself to think things over. After a few seconds, a smile appears on her face. "Alright, get out of here….." She says before she is almost tackled by Rogue. "Alright alright, but if you get caught, I know nothing."

Rogue gives Kitty a half smile before climbing out her window. Kitty watches as her friend climbs down the drain pipe by the window, and then run through the Mansion lawn. Kitty stands looking out the window until Rogue disappears into the darkness.

"I am so going to get into trouble over this, I know it." Kitty sighs as she phases through the door.

**:Elsewhere in the Xavier Institute:**

Jubilee, Tabitha and Amara are walking in the hall way towards the living room, with Jaden following quietly behind. The three girls are giggling to themselves while Jaden shuffles along with his hands in his pockets.

Tabitha leans in close to Jubilee, "So, like what is the story with Mr. Short and Mysterious back there. He's been here a week already, and I don't think I've heard him speak once." Tabitha whispers.

"Yeah, he's kind of quiet, and to be honest, I don't really know much about him myself." Jubilee whispers back, "He doesn't like to talk about himself. All I know is that he doesn't sleep."

"Weird. Does it have to do with his powers?" Amara asks.

"I don't think so." Jubilee answers, "He dozed off one night, and from what I could tell, he was have a pretty nasty nightmare."

"You mean to tell me that this guy saved your life, you parents paid to fly him to New York and you don't know anything about him?" Tabitha says before having a delayed reaction. "Hold on, you two spent the night together! What about Bobby? I thought you said you were just friends?"

Amara stops in her tracks and punches Tabitha in the arm. "Oh My God! I can't believe that you would think such a thing!"

"Yeah but….." Tabitha tries to elaborate, but is cut off by Jubilee.

"He stayed with me one night when I was in the hospital."

Suddenly the three girls are startled by a sound from behind them. They turn around just in time to see Kitty phase through Rogue's door, taking Jaden by surprise, and causing him to tumble to the ground. "Whoa!"

Oblivious to what is going on, Kitty just looks at the three girls, and doesn't notice that Jaden momentarily loses control of his powers and falls into a shadow under a near by table. A split second later, Jaden falls out of a shadow behind Kitty knocking her over.

Kitty looks down at Jaden who is currently lying across her legs.

"Ummm, you must be the New Kid."

"Errr Yeah Sorry about that." Jaden says politely as he helps Kitty to her feet.

"Oh My God, It Speaks!" Tabitha says bluntly to which she receives an equally blunt elbow to the side from Amara.

"Don't mind Kitty," Jubilee jibes "Since she's gotten her powers, she's forgotten how to use doorknobs." To which Kitty sticks out her tongue at Jubilee.

"So," Amara starts, "we're going to go hang out in the living room…."

"And maybe get this cutie to tell us a little about him." Tabitha interrupts as she puts her arm around Jaden causing him to blush.

Amara shoots a disapproving look at her best friend before directing her attention back to Kitty. "Wanna come?"

"No, I have stuff to do in my room before I get ready for bed." Kitty says.

"Tabby See if Rogue wants to come hang out." Amara tells her friend.

"NO!" Kitty exclaims causing everyone to give her a quizzical look. "Ummmm, Rogue was complaining about a… a headache and is already in bed."

The three girls look at Kitty with blank expressions when finally Tabitha puts Jaden on the spot again. "That's okay; miss antisocial would only get in the way. We have got to get to know this cutie right here."

Jaden Blushes again, and steps back into the same shadow he fell out of moments earlier, leaving the four girls alone in the hall. The three other girls look at Jubilee for an explanation. "Hey don't look at me, I told you that he didn't like talking about himself.

**:Xavier Mansion Main Gate:**

Rogue peaks out from a set of bushes. She sees a panning camera mounted on the arch of the gate. She waits for it to look away from her. She sees her chance, and makes a break for the gate. She climbs up a tree near the archway, and then jumps over to the other side of the wall. She then runs down the road where she climbs onto the back of Gambit's motorcycle, and the two ride off into the night.

Rogue buries her head into Gambit's back. She holds on tight as the two speed down the wooded road leading from the institute. She wasn't sure why she was with Gambit. What would everyone at the Institute think if they knew she was sneaking out in the middle of the night to be with an Acolyte? What would Logan do if he found out? Rogue knew exactly what she was doing, and she didn't care.

She was tired of being shut off from everyone. She was tired of Scott and Jean's sappy relationship. She was tired of Kitty's constant moaning about what a jerk Lance was. She was tired of not having a life. With Gambit, she had a connection. She still wasn't sure what kind of a connection, but he listened when she needed someone to talk to and never asked questions. It wasn't that the Professor or anyone else at the Institute wasn't there for her when she needed help. It fact, she trusted every one of the X-Men with her life. It's just that sometimes, they were too involved in her life.

The hours fly by as they ride near the out skirts of town. It is well past midnight when then return to the Institute. Gambit parks his bike a ways down the road leading to the main gate to avoid being detected by the Institute's surveillance system. The two would be friends linger at the edge of the road.

Gambit leans up against a tree while Rogue plops down on the ground rubbing her ankles. "Man those pipe things get hot! I can even feel the heat through my boots."

"You mean de muffler Cher?" Gambit smirks. "Maybe Gambit teach you how to ride one day."

Rogue instantly perks up, "Really!" she blurts out before trying to play it off. "Errr… That would be nice, I'd like that."

"What's de matter Cher? You've been quiet all night." Gambit says as he helps Rogue to her feet.

"Well it's just that…." Rogue pauses as she tries to find the words. "Ah mean... I feel like I can share anything with you….."

"What is it Cher?"

"Ah-Ah just want to be close to someone, ya'know?"

"You not close to your friends at de Institute?"

"No not like that," Rogue hangs her head, "I mean I can never be close to someone."

"You are close to Gambit." He says as he moves closer to Rogue.

Rogue backs away from Gambit as he moves closer to her. Eventually she is stopped when she backs into a tree. Gambit moves dangerously close to Rogue. He is so close that she can feel his breath against her face. Ever since her powers manifested, she has never been able to know the touch of another person.

"Why can't you be close with Gambit cher?"

Rogue pushes against Gambit. "You know why!"

"N-No!" Rogue turns her head. "I'll hurt you like I do everyone else."

Gambit gently lifts Rogue's chin with his hand. She looks up into his mesmerizing red on black eyes. The darkness of the area is lighted as a pink glow begins to surround Gambit's body. This takes Rogue by surprise, especially since that same pink glow is usually followed by something blowing up. However, anxiety is soon replaced with an even bigger surprise when Gambit leans forward and kisses her lightly on the lips.

Thinking that Gambit may have a death wish or something, Rogue tries to push him away, but she soon realizes that instead of charging something to explode, that pink glow is preventing Rogue's powers from absorbing Gambit's life energy. Her mind at ease, she returns the kiss. She loses herself in the feeling of his embrace. The field that Gambit is emanating sends a warm tingling sensation into Rogue's lips. Disorienting at first, she soon begins to enjoy the sensation.

Gambit gently begins to pull away from the kiss. Rogue, who was intently enjoying her first real human contact since her powers manifested, eagerly leans forward not wanting to break the kiss.

"Time to go Cher." Gambit says to the slightly flummoxed young girl as the glow emanating from him begins to diminish. "Your friends at de Institute are gonna miss you soon."

"But I don't wanna to go." Rogue squeaks softly. "What was that anyway?"

"Just an ol' trick dat Gambit had from a long time ago."

"Well, why did you wait until now to use it?" Rogue sighs while hugging Gambit, still deep in the euphoria of her first human contact in years. That or a pleasant side effect of Gambit's shield, she wasn't quite sure, but didn't really care. She had never felt this way before, and didn't want it to end.

"To be honest, Gambit didn't tink he could do it anymore until now. But since it appears that I can, Gambit isn't going to let it go to waste."

The darkness of the area is lighted again as Gambit's pink glow begins to surround his body. He leans in for another kiss when he is stopped by rogue when she hears a fait "Sknit" from behind the brush.

"You're right; I'm probably missed at the Institute." Rogue huffs as she peaks over her shoulder as a lone shadow in the trees. "I think that you should go."

Disappointed, Gambit nods and gets back on his motorcycle. He shoots Rogue a quick wink and then takes off down the road into the darkness, unaware of how close he came to being mauled by an over protective chaperone.

"Alright, Mr. Logan I'm busted, so what? Am I grounded for a week?" Rogue pouts as Wolverine steps out of the shadows.

"I'm not going to lecture you Stipes." Says wolverine, "After all that you have been through, I trust your judgment. It's his judgment that I'm not so sure of." He says as he thumbs over his shoulder in the direction that Gambit rode off. "Just don't make this sneaking off in the middle of the night a habit."

Wolverine walks towards the Institute leaving Rogue who breaths a sigh of relief for being spared what could have been a lengthy and painful lecture.

"And you're grounded for two weeks." Wolverine adds.

"Oh man!" Rogue says before trudging back to the Institute with Wolverine.

**:Gypsy Camp Somewhere in Germany:**

Mrs. Sefton is sitting at a desk in her room. She looks out a nearby window, pondering the circumstances that brought her and her daughter to this isolated corner of the world. Although Amanda was trying to be strong, and put forward a brave face, she knew that this all was very hard on her daughter. She hoped that her gift would cheer her daughter up. Mrs. Sefton begins writing something on a piece of paper when her daughter walks in the room.

"Mother," says Amanda as she walks into the room, "did you want to see me?"

"Yes," Mrs. Sefton replies, "I know that this all has been really hard on you, and that you miss your friends in Bayville, especially Kurt." Mrs. Sefton stands up from the desk, and walks over to Amanda "I have something for you that may cheer you up."

She hands Amanda a piece of paper. Amanda reads the writing on the piece of paper. There are strange words written on it that she recognizes as German, but it appears different for some reason. She can make out parts of it, but can't decipher what's written on the piece of paper.

"What is this?" Amanda asks.

"It is time to begin the next step in your training." Explains Mrs. Sefton, "You will begin learning some of the incantations that our clan uses." I figured that if you have to start learning them, why not teach you one that can help you cheer up.

"What does it do?" Amanda asks.

"Watch," Mrs. Sefton replies.

She begins chanting an incantation in a long forgotten German dialect. The edge of the mirror begins to glow, and her reflection begins to distort. Amanda is amazed to see an image of her father appear. Amanda walks up to the mirror, and looks at her father, and is startled to the floor when the image speaks.

"Hello Amanda dear,"

"W-What the….." Amanda says looking up at her father from the floor.

Mrs. Sefton and her husband chuckle at their daughter's reaction. Amanda looks at her father, then to her mother, that at the piece of paper in her hand. She immediately pops to her feet. She runs up to, and hugs her mother.

"It's nice to see you Daddy, sorry I have to run, I'll talk to ya later."

Amanda runs out of the room. Mr. and Mrs. Sefton smile at their daughter's excitement.

**:Kitty's Bathroom:**

Kitty stands in front of a mirror, getting ready for school. She is brushing her hair when the edge of the mirror begins to glow, and her reflection begins to distort. A shocked Kitty drops her hair brush, and steps back from the mirror, "What the….." Kitty is about to bolt from the bathroom when she sees an image of Amanda appear before her. Amazed, she walks up to the mirror. Kitty reaches out and is about to touch the spot on the mirror where Amanda's nose would be with her index finger.

"Hi Kitty," Amanda says cheerfully.

"Whoa!" Kitty expounds. She falls backwards, partially phasing though the wall with only her legs sticking out, leaving Amanda laughing.

"Are you okay?" Amanda asks between chuckles.

Kitty sticks her head out of the wall, looking up at the mirror. "I-I must be losing it. I have to stop those late night snack runs to the kitchen." Kitty thinks to herself.

"A-Ah-Amanda?" Kitty says puzzled

"Yep, it's me. Don't worry; I did the same thing when my mother first showed this to me….." Amanda says laughing, "well, minus the phasing through the wall that is."

"H-How are you doing this?" A confused Kitty asks.

"It's a spell. I recite an incantation, think of whom I want to talk to, and tadaa, here we are." Amanda says with a magician's flare. "Of course that person has to be near a mirror for it to work."

"Uh, Cool," Kitty is still trying to grasp the concept that she is talking to Amanda through her mirror.

Kitty gets up from the ground, and picks up her hair brush. She places the hair brush on next to her bathroom sink.

She stares at Amanda's image in her mirror, her face just an inch from the mirror. It is then that it dawns on her that Amanda can see her too, and that it would probably be really rude of her to be staring at her like that.

"Uh, Like sorry if I'm staring, you'd think I'd be used to stuff like this by now living in a mansion full of mutants" Kitty says

"So how are you doing Kitty?" Amanda asks

"Great….." Kitty thinks how strange this is, and then comes to a realization.

"Uh Amanda, I don't mean to be rude or anything, and I'm really glad to see you, but if you're able to talk to people on the other side of the world through a mirror, shouldn't you be talking to Kurt right now?" Kitty replies.

Amanda's cheerful demeanor now changes to one of sadness. She looks away from Kitty, and nervously begins fiddling with her hair.

"I know Kitty, but I-I still don't know what to say to him. Besides I tried, but he must still be asleep." Amanda gets a guilty look on her face. "Ummm, Kitty, I know this sounds bad, but part of me was kinda glad that he wasn't there. I mean, he must hate me. I haven't talked or written him in over a month."

Now, it was Kitty who had a guilty look on her face. She tries to hide it, but does a very bad job of it. Amanda looks up at Kitty, noticing the distraught look on her face.

"What's wrong Kitty," a concerned Amanda asks.

"Errr…..Well…..Amanda." Kitty starts looking away from Amanda. "Like, I know that you asked me to not tell Kurt about the letters," She begins fidgeting and stares at the floor, "a-and I spent like an entire week debating with myself whether or not I should….."

Amanda's jaw drops as she realizes that Kitty did. She hunches over and hides her face in her hands.

"OH MY GOD!" Amanda's yells

Mrs. Sefton hears Amanda's shouts, and bursts into her room.

"Amanda, Are you okay?" a concerned Mrs. Sefton asks her daughter.

Kitty looks up at her bathroom mirror, and sees a frantic Mrs. Sefton standing in the doorway behind Amanda. Amanda turns around to speak to her mother.

"Everything's fine mom, I was just talking to Kitty when she told me about how a friend of mine told another friend of mine something when they were told not to tell that friend anything." Amanda says as she looks over her shoulder and shoots Kitty a death glare through the mirror. Kitty puts her hands into her pockets and stares at the ground while biting her lower lip in guilt.

"Ummm, Okay….." Mrs. Sefton said puzzled, not entirely sure what her daughter just said. She looks over at the mirror, "Hello Kitty, how are things at school?"

Kitty instantly regains her composure. She waves at Mrs. Sefton with a big smile on her face. "Oh everything is great Mrs. Sefton. Like, we all miss Amanda. She's such a kind and forgiving friend." Kitty says cheerfully.

Mrs. Sefton is now even more puzzled, and decides to not bother trying to figure out what the two girls are talking about and leaves Amanda's room shaking her head.

Amanda cheerfully waves at her mother as she leaves her room. As soon Mrs. Sefton leaves, Amanda turns back towards her mirror.

"Kitty, I can't believe you did that!" Amanda says to Kitty, startling her causing her to inadvertently phase through the wall again. "Those letters were private thoughts. I thought that I could trust you?"

Kitty begins to feel guilty again until she realizes that she did nothing wrong.

"Yeah, like private thoughts that you should have been writing to Kurt about!" Kitty retorts.

"You didn't see how much Kurt was hurting. You think that you had it rough, imagine what he was going through." Kitty says to Amanda who is taken aback by what Kitty said.

"You were his first girlfriend, Amanda. Then, just like that, you were gone from his life, and he couldn't do anything about it." Kitty says "You don't know what it's like to have to watch one of your closest friends just sit and mope around all day with a broken heart."

Amanda is shocked by what Kitty said. It wasn't until then that Amanda realized how much pain Kurt was going through because of her leaving.

"Kitty, I-I'm sorry. I know that I should have kept in better contact with Kurt, but, well you read my letters. You know how hard it was for me."

"Which is why I gave the letters to him. Everything you needed to say was in those letters." Kitty told Amanda. "When he read those letters, it was the first time I saw him smile in a month. So, just talk to him Amanda. I'll go wake him up, and you can cast your spell or whatever it is that you do, and just talk to him."

Amanda looks down at the floor for a few seconds, and then looks up at Kitty's image in her mirror.

"Your right Kitty. Please go wake Kurt up, and I'll talk to him." Amanda says hesitantly. "Oh and Kitty, Thanks."

Kitty smiles at Amanda. She picks up her hairbrush and goes to put it back in her cabinet located behind the mirror. She phases her hand through the mirror, and is pulled though it. Kitty comes barreling through Amanda's mirror knocking her over, and landing on top of her. The two girls look at each other mystified, and then in unison look up at the image of Kitty's bathroom in Amanda's mirror.

* * *

Well I hope that you liked this chapter. Sorry it took so long to post, but Things have been busy for me and haven't had as much time as I would like to spend on my fics.

Thanx for reading and please don't forget to review.


	11. Lovers and Fighters

YAY! Another chapter. When I finished writing the last chapter, I realized that it was really long, so I decided to edit it a bit, and divided it up into two chapters. I found that they story flows better this way, and the scenes aren't so long and drawn out. Hope you like it, and please don't forget to review.

Insert funny worded, grammatically incorrect disclaimer here:

* * *

**:Gypsy Camp Somewhere in Germany:**

Amanda and Kitty sit speechless on the floor of her room looking at each other. Amanda picks up Kitty's hair brush and examines it intently. She looks up at Kitty as if she can't believe what just happened. Mrs. Sefton bursts into Amanda's room concerned by the raucous.

"Amanda, what are you doing in..." Mrs. Sefton is shocked to see Kitty sitting on the floor of Amanda's room.

"H-How?" Mrs. Sefton asks confusedly.

The two girls look at each other, still not entirely sure how Kitty came to be in Amanda's room. Kitty looks up at the image of her bathroom still in Amanda's mirror.

"Ummm, Like, hi Mrs. Sefton." Kitty says quizzically, "Umm, Like we're not entirely sure ourselves Mrs. Sefton."

"Yeah mom, I was just talking to Kitty, and then she literally fell through the mirror." Amanda adds, "You didn't tell me that it was a portal."

Mrs. Sefton looks at Amanda's mirror amazed by what the two girls just told her.

"But, it's not a portal; it's just a means of communicating with some one. You shouldn't be able to travel through it."

Mrs. Sefton walks up to Amanda's mirror, and placed her hand on the cold glass. Sure enough, nothing happened.

"Amanda, what did you do?" Mrs. Sefton asks her daughter, "Did you say the incantation right?"

"I think so," Amanda replies, "I mean, I said it, and the edge of the mirror glowed just like it did when you did it."

"What if?" Kitty interrupts, getting strange looks from Amanda and her mother.

"Well, before I fell through the mirror'..." Kitty begins to ponder, "I-I was going to put my brush away." Kitty looks over at the mirror, "I phased my hand through the mirror to put my brush away, and was pulled into it. The next thing I know, I was on top of Amanda."

"You don't suppose that Kitty's powers enabled her to use the link between our mirrors to come here?" Amanda asks excitedly beginning to realize the potential of their discovery.

Kitty takes her brush from Amanda, and walks over to the mirror. She warily phases her hand through the mirror. She feels something pull her arm again, but is able to brace herself this time. She places her hairbrush on the counter next to her sink, and pulls her arm back through the mirror. She looks at her hand, and then at the mirror. Kitty is so entranced by the mirror, that she doesn't notice Amanda beaming with excitement.

"Kitty, do you suppose that you could phase someone through the mirror with you?" Amanda asks with a smile.

Mrs. Sefton interjects knowing what her daughter is hinting at. "Amanda, you can't be considering this.

"Oh, come on mom!" Amanda questions defiantly. "I'll be fine, and I really want to see Kurt. I haven't been in contact with him for over a month."

"But what about those letters you sent?" Mrs. Sefton inquires

Kitty pulls her attention from the mirror and turns towards Amanda and her mother.

"Those letters were to me Mrs. Sefton." Kitty steps in, "err, Amanda had problems writing to Kurt, so she was writing to me to try and well'."

Amanda begins playing with her hair, and looks at the floor in shame. She's not sure why she should feel ashamed for anything. She didn't think that she did anything wrong, but then she remembered what Kitty told her earlier about how hard Kurt took her leaving. Kitty sees that Amanda is uncomfortable with the current topic.

"It should be safe Mrs. Sefton." Kitty tries to change the subject, "It shouldn't be any different than when I phase other people through walls."

"Nothing like this has ever happened girls, and the spell is not meant for this use. We have no idea of the side effects that this may cause." Mrs. Sefton says trying to reason with the girls.

"Oh please mom, Kitty can have me there are back in no time." Amanda pleads.

Mrs. Sefton realizes that the past month has been really hard on Amanda, and she can't even begin to comprehend what Kurt may have been feeling. Part of her wants to let her go and visit her friends. She knew that even before Amanda manifested powers of her own, most of her friends abandoned her for being associated with the Institute kids, and particularly for dating Kurt. It took a great amount of courage on her part to stay with Kurt after losing all her friends. Not to mention the disapproval her and her husband had towards Kurt.

What could it hurt Mrs. Sefton thought to herself. But there was still the question of how safe this whole thing was. Suppose they did make it through safe. What if they can't get back? Or, even worse. What if they get trapped in between the two mirrors somehow? The spell was used by her clan for generations, but no one really knew how the mirrors were linked, or how people were able to converse through them.

Mrs. Sefton looks at her daughter. Should she let her go? It could be just as simple as they said. Kitty could have them there and back in no time. Part of her wanted this to work. Not just for her daughter, but perhaps this could be a way for the entire family to visit with each other again. Her husband was back in Bayville working. She tried to put forth a strong face for Amanda's sake, but she really missed her husband, and she knew that Amanda probably did too.

"Alright," Mrs. Sefton said, "But you can only go for an hour. You still have another training session this afternoon."

The two girls shrill with glee, and hug Mrs. Sefton.

"Alright, alright, but remember one hour, and when you get back, we are going to talk to your grandmother about the possible ramifications if any that this may have." Mrs. Sefton said with a smile, and hugs her daughter again.

"Don't worry Mrs. Sefton, we all have to go to school in an hour anyway." Kitty says mopingly. Kitty looks out a window, and realizes that they are in a different time zone. "What time is it here?"

"It's a little before one in the afternoon. We're six hours ahead of you guys." Amanda replies.

"Well, if you two are going to go, you better go now before I change my mind." Mrs. Sefton says with a smirk to the two girls.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Amanda runs up to her mother and gives her a big hug.

"Thanks Mom."

Amanda takes Kitty's hand and they walk over to the mirror. They look at each other apprehensively, and then at the mirror.

"Ready when you are Kitty" Amanda says glowing with excitement.

Kitty phases through the mirror, and is pulled through it, Amanda in tow.

**:Secret Acolyte Base Somewhere in New York:**

Gambit pulls into the Acolyte base, and parks his motorcycle next to one of the many vehicles, most of which are antique cars owned my Magneto, lined up in the huge garage. He walks through the base's common room as he makes his way up to his room. He approaches the stairs to his room, when he stops at the foot of the stairs.

"Up a little early aren't you Fuzz Head." Gambit says without even turning to look at Sabertooth sitting in the dark.

"Ol Bucket Head knows that you've been sneaking around with that X-Bitch, and he wants to see you in his office." Sabertooth leans forward out of the shadows, revealing hit gleaming razor sharp teeth. "And he says that if you won't come willingly, I'm supposed to escort you. I would prefer the ladder." Sabertooth says with a wry grin.

"I would never give you de satisfaction." Gambit quips as he heads in the direction of Magneto's office with Sabertooth following close behind.

Gambit and Sabertooth enter Magneto's office to find Colossus and Pyro also waiting with Magneto, who is looking out the picture window in his office.

"Gambit, I have afforded you a great deal of leniency." Magneto says not even giving Gambit the cardiac to look at him while speaking. "I let you think that I didn't know about your little hide out in the warehouse, but I will not tolerate you're relationship with Xavier's student."

"Despite what you may tink Bucket Head, you don't own Gambit."

"On the contrary, the sizeable fee that I pay to secure your services says that I do, and I know of a certain doctor whose services do not come cheep."

Gambit's demeanor suddenly changes after what Magneto just said. As much as he hated it, he knew that Magneto was right. He needed the money, and his petty thievery was not enough to pay for what he needed. He despised Magneto and his warped view of the world, but there was nothing that he could do. Magneto had him, and they both knew it.

"Eui" Gambit says before hanging his head.

**:Kitty's Bathroom in the Xavier Institute:**

Kitty and Amanda are launched through Kitty's bathroom mirror. They land on Kitty's bathroom counter, and then fall to the floor making a loud thud. Rogue, who's room is next to Kitty's, is startled by the noise coming from Kitty's Bathroom.

"What is she up to in there?" Rogue says out loud. She hurries out of her room to see if everything is okay.

Kitty and Amanda are now sitting on the floor of Kitty's bathroom.

"Ow, that's gonna leave a bruise." Amanda remarks.

"Yeah, I like have to work on my landings." Kitty says rubbing her backside.

The two girls are startled by a knock on the door.

"Kitty, are you alright in there.?" Rogue asks as she opens the door.

Rogue sticks her head through the door jam to see what is going on.

"I heard a noise, and was worried that'.." Rogue looks into Kitty's bathroom to find the Institutes latest visitor. "A-Amanda?"

The two girls look up at Rogue then to each other, and begin laughing hysterically. They get up from the floor and face a perplexed Rogue. The spell wares off, and the mirror returns to normal showing only the two girls' reflection. Amanda gives Kitty a quick glance.

"Kitty, you explain, I'm gonna go wake up that sleepyhead Kurt." Amanda says running past Rogue out of the bathroom.

"Long story short, Amanda cast a spell that enables her to talk to people through mirrors. She tried to call up Kurt, but he's like, still asleep, so she called me. Then we found out that I can use my powers to travel through them, so I brought her here to visit with Kurt." Kitty blurted out like Pietro on a sugar rush, as she ran past Rogue to catch up with Amanda.

"A-hey wait a minute!" Rogue says as she chases after the two squealing girls.

**:Tabitha and Amara's Room in the Xavier Mansion:**

Tabitha rustles under the covers of her bed trying to ignore the sound knocking coming from the bedroom door. "Hey Mara answer the door will ya."

Never a morning person, Tabitha rolls over and buries her head in her pillow in a futile effort to block out the irritable sound. "Mara get the door will ya!" Tabitha throws off the covers and looks over to Amara's bed only to find Amara's be neatly made, and Amara no where to be found. "Amara?"

Tabitha deduces that Amara probably woke up an hour ago and is already dressed and eating breakfast. Tabitha shoots a death gaze at the door as the knocking persists. Tabitha drags herself out of bed and makes her way to the door.

"WHAT!" Tabitha huffs

Bobby is taken aback by Tabitha's outburst. "Errr... Ummm... Sorry to wake ya Tabby," Bobby stammers while rubbing the back of his neck, "but I wanted to talk to Jubilee before breakfast...

"And! Jubilee's room is across the hall."

"B-But, well, she isn't in her room, and I've looked for her everywhere."

"She's in Jaden's room" Tabitha huffs, "and it's not what you think. They are just friends, or at least that's what she told me." Tabitha says before slamming the door in Bobby's face.

"Jaden..." Bobby says broken heartedly.

**:Jaden's Bedroom in the Xavier Institute:**

Jubilee is sound asleep in Jaden's bed while he watches her vigilantly from a chair next to the bed. Still having trouble with nightmares, Jubilee had taken to sneaking out of her bed room at night, and sleeping in Jaden's room. Jaden offered to stay with Jubilee in her room, but she explained to him that Logan made regular checks in the girl's wing, and it was easier for her to sneak to the boy's wing than it was for him to try and get past Wolverine. Even if he did manage to sneak into the girl's wing, Wolverine would have undoubtedly sniffed him out eventually.

Rumors were running rampant around the Institute as to the nature of their relationship. Jaden had been on his own long enough that he could care less about what anyone at the Institute was saying about him. Jubilee was another matter. Even though she was back with all her friends and with people who accepted her for what she was, Jaden could tell that a small part of her was hurt buy the rumors circulating about her and Jaden. Granted, for the past month, they spent every free moment they had together, including nights. But, the whole time they have been together, Jaden never tried anything with Jubilee, he was always the consummate gentleman. They never did anything. Never kissed. They rarely hugged. They barely even held hands. Jaden wouldn't let them.

Jaden had already grown closer to Jubilee than with any other person he had ever met. He normally would not have allowed anyone to get as close to him as she has. Everyone who was ever close to him is gone now. He never knew his parents, and his sister died when he was twelve. His sister meant the world to him, and Jaden was devastated when he lost her. He couldn't bear to lose another person that he cared about, so he shut himself off from people. Always on the move. No, not just on the move, he was running. He never stayed anywhere long enough to get to know anyone. He was too afraid to. He was sure that if he did, he would be putting their lives in danger. He lived this way for over two years. Gradually making his way west; Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, Denver, Cedar City, and countless towns until he finally ended up in Los Angeles.

Jubilee rustles underneath the covers while Jaden sits and laments the events that brought him back to New York. He was hesitant at first. There where a lot of bad memories here, but one thing that Jubilee helped him realize was that he needed to stop running. After everything that happened to her, she never regretted being a mutant. She accepted that being a mutant was part of who she was. Something that Jaden never quite learned. Jaden is deep in reflection when a knock at the door pulls him away from his thoughts. Jubilee stirs under the covers, but doesn't seem to register what is going on.

Jaden gets up from his seat to answer the door. As he opens the door, he makes sure to only open it just enough so that whomever it is can only see his face. Jaden wanted to make sure that if it was one of the adults, that they wouldn't find out that Jubilee was there. He looks out into the hall way to find Bobby standing in front of him.

"Where is she?" Bobby demands.

Jaden stammers as he tries to remember who it was. "Uhh, Bobby right?" He honestly wasn't sure if it was in fact Bobby. There were a lot of new faces to get to know at the Institute, and after spending two years alone on his own, he was terrible at remembering names. "Where is who?"

"Jubilee! I know that she's here." Bobby says slightly agitated. "Tabby says that she has been staying in your room ever since she came back."

Jaden looks over his shoulder at Jubilee sleeping soundly in his bed. He quietly steps into the hall way, and closes the door behind him. "Look, Bobby is it? Yes, Jubilee has been staying in my room, but nothing is going on."

"Oh, I bet that Mr. Logan and the Professor would think otherwise."

"I know that you and Jubilee have a history together, and I have no problem with that. Jubilee and I are just friends, and if you want to talk to her, then go ahead. Just please don't tell the Professor."

"Well, if there is nothing going on, then why is she sleeping in your room?"

"She's been having bad nightmares since the attack, and I happen to have some experience in dealing with nightmares."

"What nightmares, she hasn't told me about any nightmares!" Bobby says defensively, "And what do you know about nightmares? From what I hear, you don't even sleep."

"Calm down Bobby. I have no beef with you."

"Oh yeah, well you're trying to steal my girlfriend, so I say that you do have a beef with me!"

"Look I told you, we're just friends." Jaden says very calmly as he tries to calm Bobby down.

"I want to talk to Jubilee!" Bobby demands.

"Now is not a good time," Says Jaden ass he steps into Bobby's way. "She is still asleep."

"Get out of my way!" Bobby demands getting more and more agitated.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Jaden says calmly. "If you wish to talk to Jubilee, then at lease wait until after she has woken up."

"Ya'know, I'm getting really tired of you!" Bobby says as he takes a defensive posture.

"I think that you need to calm down." Says Jaden. "I said before that I have no beef with you. I don't want to fight you."

"Then let me see Jubilee!"

"Not while you are so worked up. I'm not letting you see Jubilee until you calm down first"

"Get out of my way you Nocturnal Freak!" Bobby assumes a fighting stance and changes into his ice form.

Bobby's use of his powers takes Jaden by surprise, but he still remains unfazed. "Don't do this Bobby. Calm down and we can work this all out."

"Get out of my way!" Bobby shouts as he throws an ice ball at Jaden.

Jaden calmly takes a step back and disappears into a shadow on the floor causing the ice ball to fly past him, and freeze a potted plant sitting on a table against the wall.

"Come out and Fight!" Bobby shouts out loudly causing Ray, Sam, and Jamie to come running out of their rooms.

Bobby is standing in the middle off the hall way looking around for Jaden.

Jaden suddenly jumps down from a shadow on the ceiling, and pounces down onto Bobby, pinning him on the ground. "Calm down Bobby! I don't want to fight you!"

Still in his ice form, Bobby easily slips out of Jaden's grasp. The two boys roll around on the ground. Bobby is able to get on top of the smaller Jaden, and throws an icy punch across Jaden's left cheek. Jaden uses his legs to roll over backwards, and throws Bobby off of him. Bobby springs to his feet, and charges at Jaden. Everyone gasps when, with amazing agility, Jaden launches himself into the air and over Bobby's head. Bobby stands dumbfounded for a split second before rushing at Jaden again. Bobby throws a flurry of punches to which Jaden easily dodges. With a minuscule amount of effort, Jaden is able to dodge every punch and kick that Bobby throws at him. Exasperated, Bobby freezes the ground beneath Jaden's feet causing him to lose his footing and thus neutralizing his ability to dodge Bobby's attacks.

Hearing the commotion out side of Jaden's room Jubilee groggily sticks her head out the door to see what is going on. Upon seeing Bobby and Jaden fighting, Jubilee comes running out of the room. She sets one foot out the door, and nearly slips on the ice. Jubilee braces herself on the door frame. With the ground completely frozen, Jubilee sees that Jaden, even though he was able to easily take out five boys twice his size in the gym that day, is no match for Bobby.

"BOBBY STOP IT!" Jubilee yells. Bobby either didn't hear her, or is ignoring her as he continues his onslaught on Jubilee's friend.

Now in his element, Bobby slides along the ice and lands a punch on a slipping and sliding Jaden, receding cheers from the other boys as a result. Jaden slides along the ice, but remains on his feet. Bobby glides over the ice like a professional figure skater. He easily skates around Jaden landing a frenzy of punches. Jaden tries to defend himself, but every time he tries to throw a punch, it only contributes to his unbalance on the ice. Unable to fight back on the slick ice; Jaden dives, sliding on the frozen floor, and disappears into a shadow under a nearby table.

Amara and Jean come running up the stairs from the mansion common room. "What is going on here?" Demands Jean.

"Bobby and that new kid are fighting!" Yells Jamie.

Bobby skates around in circles keeping a wary eye out for Jaden to reappear. Bobby is so enthralled in finding Jaden that he doesn't notice that the ice on the ground is beginning to melt. Not paying attention to where he is going, Bobby hits a patch of carpet causing him to trip. Bobby hits the floor hard, and loses his ice form. Bobby springs to his feet, and begins throwing ice balls at every shadow that he sees.

Suddenly Jaden dives out of a shadow. He tackles Bobby, pinning him against the edge of the stairs with his knee. "JADEN DON'T!" Jubilee pleads. With a flick of the wrist, Jaden pulls out his butterfly knife, and rests its point against Bobby's throat. Everyone stops dead in their tracks, not knowing how Jaden was able to seemingly pull the knife out of thin air, or most importantly, what he was going to do with it.

The fire in his eye begins to fade. Jaden looks up at everyone, in particular at Jubilee, and pauses for a second. After an agonizing minute, Jaden gets up from on top of Bobby. "I didn't want it to come to this Bobby. We could have settled this peacefully, but you kept pushing the issue when there was nothing going on." Jaden begins to walk away, then pauses for a second. "And besides Bobby, this blade is not meant for you." Jaden flicks his wrist, returns the knife to his back pocket, and walks past everyone back to his room.

Everyone is flabbergasted by what just transpired. Jaden could have killed Bobby if he wanted to. Sam and Ray help Bobby to his feet before dropping him as Amanda and Kitty push through the crowd and run gigging down the hall. "OW!" exclaims Bobby as his head hits the ground with a pathetic thud.

"Sorry Bobby!" Amanda shouts from down the hall.

As if an early morning fight wasn't shocking enough, the sight of Amanda running through the halls of the mansion leaves everyone at the top of the stairs in a complete state of bewilderment as they all question in unison. "Amanda?"

**:Kurt's Bedroom in the Xavier Mansion:**

Oblivious to what just happened down the hall from his room, Kurt is sound asleep in his bed. It was the first real night's sleep that he had in a month. After a month of depression and self doubt, he was able the sleep in perfect bliss after reading Amanda's letters to Kitty. Sure Amanda was on the other side of the world, but she loved him. Love, a word that he himself thought would never be apart of his life. Kurt lay in his bed in blissful slumber when he hears Amanda's voice in the distance of his mind.

"Kurt...Kurt'.." Amanda appears and sits on the edge of his bed. "Kurt, wake up you sleepy head." She reaches out and nudges his shoulder trying to wake him.

"He still sleeps like a rock." Amanda chuckles to herself.

With a mischievous look on her face, Amanda climbs onto Kurt's bed, and proceeds to gleefully jump up and down giggling. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

"Oh, leave me alone Kitty'.." Kurt groans as he rolls over.

Amanda stops jumping, now very aggravated. Standing over him on his bed, she kicks him in his butt. "Kitty?"

Kurt pops up from under the covers. "What! What did I do?"

Kurt's eyes begin to focus, as he looks around. He looks up to see Amanda standing over him with a scowl on her face. "A-Amanda?"

Kurt rubs his eyes, thinking that he's seeing things. He looks up again and she is still there.

"Kitty huh? I've been gone for a month, and this is how you greet me?" Amanda says angrily. She then comes to a realization, and turns bright red. "I leave, and you're having dreams about Kitty! Is that what or should I say WHO you have been doing?"

Kurt jumps up and grabs her. "Amanda, it really is you."

"Whatever, I thought that you loved me Kurt...You said you loved me. But you're lying in your bed dreaming of Kitty." Amanda quips, "That's it, I'm gonna kick that little tramp's ass!" She says as she jumps down from the bed and heads towards the door.

"No, W-Wait, there is nothing between me and Kitty, its just that she's been bugging the hell out of me these last few weeks trying to cheer me up, and I just thought that you were her." Kurt explains.

"R-Really? So you didn't forget me?" Amanda says,

"Of course Liebchen. How could I ever forget you." Kurt says as Amanda leans in to kiss him. Kurt turns his head suddenly at the last moment.

"I knew it, you do have a thing for Kitty!" Amanda turns ready to kick some Valley Girl Ass.

"N-No! It's not that, it's just'.." Kurt is interrupted by Amanda.

"Then why won't you kiss me!" Amanda shoots back.

Kurt suddenly finds the floor very interesting, "M-My morning breath." He says hesitantly.

Amanda begins to crack up laughing, "You silly fuzzy blue Elf boy!"

Amanda throws her arms around Kurt's neck, and begins kissing him passionately. They fall onto his bed. Kurt is pinned under Amanda as she straddles him. Amanda pulls Kurt's nightshirt off, and reaches down his pants.

"A-Amanda!" Kurt says in a muffled voice through Amanda's passionate kiss before her tongue penetrates into his mouth.

Kurt pushes her away, breaking their kiss. "W-What are you doing!"

"Just relax Elf boy, You're Mine!" Amanda says with an evil grin on her face, "I'm going to do things to you that the Football team only dreamed of!"

"W-Wait! A-A-Amanda! We shouldn't do'.." Kurt's arms give out as Amanda's hand starts to get creative in his pants.

Amanda leans back in for another kiss. Her tongue dives down his throat. He always knew Amanda had a long tongue. He was kind of turned on the day she showed him that she could touch her nose with her tongue, but he never realized that he would one day be gagging on it as she trusted it down his throat.

Kurt had all but given up trying to fight her off. He tried to teleport out from under her, but with her hand down the front of his pants, and her tongue using his tonsils for a punching bag, he couldn't concentrate enough to do so. He was sure that his girlfriend was going to rape him when he sees a bright light out of the corner of his eye. To Kurt's relief, someone pulls Amanda off of him.

Kurt looks up, and to his horror, he sees Belasco holding Amanda by the throat.

"Amanda, No!" Kurt says as everything begins to slow down to a crawl. He dives for them.

"The girl is mine!" Belasco's voice booms as a teleport disk appears at their feet.

They teleport leaving a bright flash...Kurt wakes up calling out Amanda's name. His pulse is racing, and his mind is still jumping, fresh with images from his nightmare.

Kurt lies back in his bed, placing his hands over his eyes.

"Another restful night." Kurt says sarcastically to himself.

He looks over at his alarm clock. It's a little before 7:00 a.m.

"Maybe I can convince Ms. Munroe, or Mr. McCoy to let me out of going to school today." Kurt says as he buries his head into his pillow.

**:Secret Acolyte Base Somewhere in New York:**

Gambit stands before Magneto and the other Acolytes completely defeated. As much as he hated to admit it, Magneto had the upper hand on him. Until he figured out a way to get the money that he needed, Gambit was forced to stay and work for Magneto.

Magneto turns away from the view out of his office, and looks condescendingly down at Gambit. "There is, however, a way that we may be able to use this girl's infatuation with you to our advantage."

"What!" Gambit says as his once proud posture returns. "If you tink that Gambit is going to let you use Rogue to get to de Professor, then you are wrong Mon Ami!"

"You dare speak to me in such an insolent manner after sneaking around behind my back with one of Xavier's students?"

Magneto's voice drones as he uses his power over magnetism to levitate himself.

"Gambit doesn't care if he does need de money, it isn't worth betraying Rogue for it!" Gambit says as he takes a defensive posture as he is undoubtedly going to be attacked.

Without saying a word, Magneto motions with his right hand, and Sabertooth and Pyro spring into action. Colossus, however, hesitates. He couldn't attack the only friend that he had in this country, yet he feared the repercussions from Magneto if he didn't.

Colossus looks on as Gambit dodges Pyro's flames while fighting it out with Sabertooth. Gambit is no match for Sabertooth's agility and strength, but manages to keep him at bay by throwing card after explosive card. However, it becomes apparent that he can't take on both Pyro and Sabertooth when Pyro sends Gambit flying into a wall with one of his flame bursts and holds him there while Sabertooth stalks his prey. No longer able to stand idly by and watch his friend be overwhelmed by two formidable mutants, Colossus powers up his Adimantium skin and charges into the fray.

Colossus tackles Pyro to the ground, thus freeing Gambit from Pyro's flaming bindings. Pyro rolls out and springs to his feet ready to unleash a volley or flames. "You're going to regret siding with him!" Pyro says incendiary. "I'm going to cook you in that metal can skin out yours." Pyro attempts to blast Colossus with his flame throwers, but soon finds that while tussling with him on the ground, Colossus had managed to clamp shut his valves. With no where for the flames to go, Pyro's flame throwers explode, hurling him out Magneto's picture window.

Colossus now turns his attention to a stalking Sabertooth, but before he has a chance to do anything, he is lifted into the air by Magneto. "Insolent dogs!" Magneto's voice thunders through out the office. I will teach you both what it means to disobey me!"

Colossus is lifted higher into the air by Magneto. He then begins to yell out in pain as Magneto uses his powers to crush Colossus in his own metal skin. Piotr tries to remove his adamantium skin, but the pain is too great, and he can't focus enough to do so. His arms and legs then spread out as Magneto now attempts to pull his extremities off of Colossus's body. Just when Piotr is sure that this will be the end of him, he falls to the floor unconscious as a blast of energy goes flying through the office at Magneto.

As the dust settles, Magneto in his protective shield are floating over the rubble of what used to be his office.

Through the settling dust, a pink glowing figure can be seen on the opposite side of the office. The figure stands up out of the rubble, and slowly moves towards Magneto. Sabertooth comes flying out of the haze towards the strange glowing figure, but is easily blasted away by a simple motion of the hand. The figure finally steps out of the haze to reveal that it is Gambit. His entire body is covered by a pink glowing aura. Magneto uses his powers to lift a metal girder and attempts to hit him with it. To his amazement Gambit doesn't try to dodge at all. Gambit allows the girders hit him squarely over the head, only to be bent as if it were made of cardboard.

Not knowing what to do, Magneto, to no avail, begins hurling whatever metal objects he can at Gambit in an attempt to stop his advance. Finally Magneto takes another metal girder and wraps it around Gambit in hopes of binding him. Gambit shoots Magneto a wry smirk. The girder wrapped around him takes on the same pink glow that currently encompasses Gambit and blows up. Magneto is completely shocked as the aura around Gambit begins to grow. Before Magneto knows it, it has filled the entire room. Gambit lets out a blood curdling yell and the Acolyte base explodes, leaving nothing but a pillar of black smoke rising from the rubble.

* * *

Well, I hope that you liked the chapter. I'll try to post more chapters as soon as I can. Thanx for reading, and please review. 


	12. Ramifications

Here is another Chapter. I hope that you like it. It's nice and long, so please enjoy.

Insert funny worded, grammatically incorrect disclaimer here:

* * *

**:Jaden's Room in the Xavier Institute:**

Jubilee stands in shock in Jaden's doorway as Jaden calmly strolls past her into his room. "If you are staying, close the door please."

Jubilee can't believe what just happened. She knew that what she did to Bobby was wrong. It wasn't that she found someone new and just moved on, she out right ignored him. To be honest, she was afraid. Afraid to break Bobby's heart. Something, despite what she thought was in Bobby's best interest, she ended up doing anyway. Jubilee could not believe that this was the second time that Jaden almost killed someone because of her.

"Close the door please." Jaden asks, pulling Jubilee away from her thoughts.

Jubilee does as she is asked and walks towards the bed. She sits down in the bed and watches as Jaden scurries around the room gathering his things. "What are you doing Jaden?" Jubilee asks.

"I'm sorry Jubilee, but this was a mistake... I'm leaving."

"No, you can't leave!" Jubilee exclaims. "I won't let you!"

"I knew this wouldn't work out." Jaden says "I'm Sorry Jubilee... I tried."

"No, Jaden, you can't go!" Jubilee says as she steps into Jaden's way as he tries to get something out of the closet. "Why are you always running? You have to stop running."

"I'm running?" Jaden says quizzically. "Were you not paying attention out there?" Jaden says as he points towards the door. "Bobby tried to turn me into a Fucking Ice Cube out there because you've been dodging him for the past two weeks! And, you're standing here saying that I'm running away!"

Jubilee gets suddenly quiet because she knew that he was right. "Well... You're right, but this mess is entirely my fault. Don't leave because of my screw up."

"I'm sorry Jubilee. Tell your parents that I'm sorry, and that I'll pay them back for the plane ticket.

"Stop saying that you're sorry! You didn't do anything wrong."

"I almost killed Bobby in front of half the Institute!" Jaden yells, "I need to go."

"Why are you running? What are you afraid of Jaden?"

"OF EVERYTHING!" Jaden yells, finally not able to keep his normal composed demeanor. "I'm afraid of losing control, I'm afraid of closing my eyes because every time I do I see horrors that no one should have ever had to witness. I'm... And I'm..." Jaden's eyes begin to tear up. "And I'm afraid to lose you... Because everyone whom I have ever cared about in my life is gone."

Jaden and Jubilee stand in front of each other. This is the most emotion that Jaden has expressed in over two years. Normally, Jaden would bury all of his emotions down deep, keeping up a cold and composed exterior. But for some reason, at this moment, all his feelings and emotions come pouring out of him. Emotionally, this is the most vulnerable that Jaden has ever been in front of another person. After two year on the streets alone, this is a new sensation for him.

Not knowing what else to do, Jubilee reaches out, and pulls him into a hug. She does this cautiously as if Jaden were a wild animal ready to pounce. Since Jaden usually doesn't like being touched, let alone held. Jaden allows Jubilee to come in close to him as the two friends embrace for the first time in their tumultuous time together.

Jaden closes his eyes and rests his head on Jubilee's shoulder. Jubilee slowly rocks back and forth as she tries to calm Jaden down. She thinks that Jaden may be falling asleep and moves towards the bed in hopes that she can maybe let Jaden get some sleep. They are almost to the bed, when Jaden's eyes snap open and he literally jumps from Jubilee's arms. He stands in the center of the room with his fists up in the air, ready to fight.

Jubilee looks at him worried, "What's wrong?"

"I-I-I'm hearing voices!"

**:Hall Way outside of Kurt's Bedroom in the Xavier Institute:**

Rogue finally catches up to the two giggling girls in front of Kurt's room. Any excitement that Amanda may have had before has faded now. She stands staring at Kurt's door. For over a month, she didn't know how or what to say to Kurt. It was almost impossible to put her feelings down on paper. Now they were going to be face to face, which made things entirely different. Thanks to Kitty, he already knew about the letters, but how did he feel about them? Kitty said that she thought that he seemed better after reading them, but how will he react to her being there. Did the way he felt about her change? Of course they did, she hadn't been in contact with him for over a month.

"So, like what are you waiting for?" Kitty inquires. "This is like that you came here for."

"I-I….." Amanda is at a loss for words.

"Look, Ah don't know what's going on here, or how you got here for that matter," Rogue says placing a hand on Amanda's shoulder, "but the one thing that I know is that Kurt has been a wreck this past month. You owe it to him to work this out."

"Yeah, so like no more stalling, and get in there." Kitty says pushing Amanda forward, phasing her through the door.

Kitty phases her head through the door, "Oh and we'll keep watch out here in case you guys wanna…..Well ya know….." Kitty whispers with an evil grin on her face before phasing back through the door.

Amanda stares at the door with a puckered expression on her face. She turns to face Kurt's bed. Amanda can see Kurt lying in his bed.

What will she say to him? Where will she start? Will things ever be the same between them? These were some of the hundreds of questions running through her head. She was terrified. Every fiber of her being wanted to run out of the room. She would have if she didn't know that Rogue and Kitty were on the other side of the door waiting.

Perhaps she could teleport out, but where would she go? No matter what she would have to come back to the Institute eventually. She needed Kitty to take her back through the mirror. How she got there was going to be hard enough to explain. How the hell was she going to explain being there. What was she thinking coming here?

"Damnit!" she thought to herself, "What the hell are you doing? Just go over to the damn bed and wake him up!"

Amanda forces her self to creep over to the bed. He is asleep, but in no way does he look peaceful. She can see the countless restless nights etched into the curves of his face. She caused this. It was because of her that he spent the last month lying awake at night. He rustles under the covers, startling her. She decides that it is not the right time to do this.

"I'll go down stairs and wait with the others in the kitchen or something until he wakes up." She tells herself, "That's a better idea, at least that way, Kurt will have had the opportunity to freshen up. Then he won't be so groggy when she talks to him.

Amanda turns, and starts back towards the door when Kurt's alarm clock goes off. Without thinking, she dives for the buzzing clock to turn it off. As she reaches for the snooze button on the clock, her hand is met by a blue, fuzzy, three fingered hand. She slowly looks towards the bed where she is met by a pair of golden eyes glazed over by countless sleepless nights. They stare blankly at her, not seeming to register her presence. Amanda is frozen with panic. She begins to hear a ringing in her ears. The silence in the room is deafening. She is about to bolt when the silence of the room is broken.

"A-Amanda?"

**:Jaden's Room in the Xavier Institute:**

"What do you mean you are hearing voices?" Jubilee asks.

Suddenly, Jubilee hears Professor Xavier's voice in her head. "Jubilee, will you and your friend please come to my office as soon as possible?"

"There! The voice just said that you and I should go to some office." Jaden says slightly freaked out.

"Yeah, that's the professor using his powers to talk to us. It takes a little getting used to."

"Wait, you mean the Professor can go into my head anytime he wants?"

"Oh don't worry Jaden; he never scans anyone unless he has their permission."

"Yeah but..." Jaden stammers.

"Jaden, you don't need to worry about the Professor." Jubilee says as she tries to calm Jaden down. "I know that you have your secrets, and I hope that some day you trust me enough to share them with me, but until then, I'll be right here with you. But for now, we have to go meet with the Professor."

"Oh Gee, I wonder whatever for?" Jaden says facetiously, "I'm telling you I should just save him the trouble and leave."

"Come on Jaden, I think that the Professor may surprise you." Jubilee, still in her pajamas, takes Jaden by the arm and the two head out to Professor Xavier's office together.

**:Hall Way outside of Kurt's Bedroom in the Xavier Institute:**

Kitty and Rogue are sitting leaning on Kurt's door. Rogue it trying to absorb all that Kitty just told her about the letters from Amanda, the long distance call via her mirror, and the side effect Kitty's powers has in combination with Amanda's mirror spell. They sit quietly next to each other until the silence is broken by Kitty.

"How do you think it's going in there?" She turns and asks her friend.

"I don't know, but if Kurt's mood this past month is a good indicator, I suspect that things between them will get worse before it gets better." Rogue replies.

"I hope that those two can work this out." Kitty sighs.

The two friends sit quietly when Rogue remembers something and turns to Kitty. "What was the deal with everyone at the stairs?"

"Like, how would I know?" Kitty shrugs, "Amanda and I just pushed past everyone, and almost slipped on a patch of ice. Bobby was probably pulling one of his stupid stunts again."

Meanwhile, Amanda is standing terrified, just inches away from Kurt's face. After all that they had been through, fighting off demons on their first date, sneaking around after her parents forbade her from seeing him, her powers manifesting, and getting trapped in Limbo, she never thought that she could ever be afraid of Kurt. But, at that moment, she was truly terrified. Not knowing what to say, she did the only thing she could think of to avoid talking to him…..She reached out gabbing him behind his neck, and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

At first, Kurt lies on his bed wide eyed not knowing what to think. He wonders to himself if she is here, how did she get to Bayville, let alone in his room. Amanda's kiss deepens, and Kurt's questions fade away. He wraps his arms around Amanda and pulls her onto the bed. Amanda Rolls on top of Kurt pinning him under her. Kurt's eyes spring open as he literally lifts her off of him. He jumps out from under the covers dropping her on the bed. Her eyes begin to tear as she looks up at him in shock. She comes to the tragic realization that things have in deed changed between them.

"W-What is this. Is this another dream?" Kurt expounds. "Is any of this real?"

"What do you mean? Kurt, I mean I know that I haven't been in touch for such a long time, but….."

Amanda can't hold it in any more and begins to break into tears.

"Kurt, I-I'm Sorry, I shouldn't have come." Amanda says as she hops off of the bed, and runs to the door leaving a puzzled Kurt looking on.

Amanda opens the door, causing Kitty and Rogue fall into Kurt's room. Amanda looks down at them for a second, and runs into the hall. Kurt snaps out of his daze, realizing that if this was in fact a dream, then he would have woken up a long time ago.

"But then if this isn't a dream, then….." Kurt jumps over the two girls on the floor and runs down the hall after Amanda.

Kitty and Rogue both still lying on the floor, look at each other.

"I guess that means that it didn't go well." A bewildered Kitty says to an equally bewildered Rogue.

Tears are streaming down Amanda's face as she runs down that hall, pushing her way past still groggy students. She turns a corner, and leans with her back against the wall. She realizes that coming back to the institute was a mistake. She should have just ended things with Kurt, and made things a lot easier on herself.

"No, love is not easy, and it's not fair to Kurt" Amanda says to herself, realizing how selfish she was being.

Amanda is startled as Kurt turns the corner. Without thinking, she summons a disk, and with a flash of light, teleports leaving Kurt alone in the hall way.

**:Outside Professor Xavier's Office:**

Jubilee and Jaden make their way to Professor Xavier's office. Jaden, for obvious reasons, is hesitant to have the meet with the Professor under the current circumstances. After living on his own for such a long time, Jaden is not used to all the attention that he has been receiving at the Institute. He had grown accustomed to having Jubilee around all the time. But, she always hung around for the company. She never bothered him, or forced him to talk when he didn't want to, she was just there.

Jubilee was easy to get used to having around, but when Jaden moved into the Institute, suddenly, he was the center of attention. Tabitha was always on his back trying to find out the extent of his relationship with Jubilee. He wasn't sure what his name was, but the student living there with the weird sunglasses always seemed to be measuring him up, and now, Bobby just picked a fight with him because of his supposed love affair with Jubilee.

As the two approach the office, they see Bobby come out, and close the door behind him. He slowly walks down the hall with his head hung low.

"What did the Professor say Bobby?" Jubilee asks.

Bobby, not paying attention to where he is going or who else is in the hall, looks up at Jubilee. A sudden streak of anger shoots through Bobby when he sees that Jaden has Jubilee on his arm. Jubilee recognizes Bobby's cross expression. She looks down at her and Jaden's interlocked arms, and steps away from him. A reaction that only angers Bobby even more.

Bobby looks at the two, then steps up to look eye to eye with Jaden. "This isn't over!" Bobby says before shooting an angry look at Jubilee then storming away.

Jubilee and Jaden look at each other. "I told you… I should leave Jubilee." Jaden insists. "I don't belong here"

"Yes you do belong here. You belong here as much as any of the other students do, and don't worry about Bobby, I'll take care of him. I guess its something that I should have taken care of a long time ago."

The two finally make it the door of Professor X's office. "Face it Jubilee, the Professor is going to kick me out of here. I should leave and save him the trouble."

"I'm not going to ask you to leave the Institute, but I would still like to have a few words with you Jaden." The Professor says telepathically.

"Whoa!" Jaden expounds as he looks around which causes Jubilee to giggle slightly.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Jubilee chuckles.

Jaden looks at Jubilee for some assurance before opening the door.

Inside the office, the Professor sits at his desk. Ororo is standing behind him, and Logan stands with his back to them as he looks out the window.

Jaden opens the door, and sticks his head into the office. "Uhh, Professor?"

"Come in Jaden, and thank you for coming." Professor Xavier says politely.

"Umm…." Jaden stammers while rubbing the back of his neck in the doorway. Jubilee steps into the office behind him, and gently nudges him in.

Jubilee and Jaden walk over to the Professor's desk, and take their seats across from him. "Sooo…." Jaden pauses for a long second. "Ummm, I guess I should pack up my stuff."

"You don't have to worry about getting kicked out just yet Jaden. Bobby explained that you had nothing to do with starting the fight."

"So, I'm not kicked out?" Jaden says, still not understanding why he is allowed to stay.

"No, you can stay with us as long as you'd like Jaden." Says Ororo.

"There are a few issues that we would like to address." Professor Xavier adds. "No matter how innocent this may be, you and Jubilee are not to share a room again."

"B-But Professor!" Jubilee blurts out.

"I'm sorry, but it is final." Professor X says sternly. "We have rules here. The two of you sharing a room is a bad example for the other students, and judging from the incident this morning, it's already beginning to be a problem."

Jubilee takes Jaden's hand in hers and looks down at the ground. "I understand Professor."

"I know that you have been having problems with Nightmares, and you take comfort in being with Jaden," Ororo says understandingly, "but you have to learn to deal with them, and stop using Jaden as a crutch."

"Is there anything else Professor?" Jaden adds, trying to deflect their attention away from Jubilee.

"Yes, I understand that you attempted to use a weapon on Bobby during your scuffle this morning." Says the Professor.

"You mean?" Jaden pauses.

"He means the knife." Logan says with his back still facing the room.

"I'm sorry Professor, I can't do that."

"We cannot allow you to keep a weapon while at the institute." Says Professor X.

"Then I'm sorry Professor, I'll pack my things and leave."

"Jaden, Please don't leave because of this." Ororo pleads.

"I have no other choice." Jaden says defensively, "You're not going to let me stay here as long as I have it, and I'm not going to turn it over."

"You don't have to go just yet Jaden." Says the Professor.

"Jaden didn't pull it out on purpose Professor, it was in self defense." Jubilee interrupts. Jaden squeezes Jubilee's hand and gives her a reassuring smile.

"I'm sorry Professor, I lost control for a second, but I promise that I would never pull my knife on anyone here at the Institute."

"But you did Kid, and when you endanger anyone's life here at the Institute, then you have to deal with me!" Logan says as he walks over to Jaden, leans forward, and extends his claws inches from Jaden's face causing him sink back in his seat.

"Wolverine, nothing is gained from scaring the child." Ororo interjects.

Professor X, raises an eyebrow at Logan and Ororo's Good Cop/Bad Cop routine. "If it means so much to you Jaden, then you can keep it, but you are not to carry it on you as long as you are a student here. The safety of the students is out top priority, and if you are caught carrying that knife again, then we will have you removed from the Institute."

"Yes Professor, and Thank you." Jaden says softly.

"Is there anything else Professor?" Jubilee asks.

"Yes, I know that since you are new here, you haven't been asked to attend training sessions with some of the other students, but you and Bobby will have training sessions with Wolverine everyday for the next two weeks as punishment for the disturbance this morning."

"Huh? Training?" Jaden asks quizzically.

Jubilee looks over at Jaden sympathetically. "Don't worry, you'll see soon enough."

Jubilee and Jaden get up from their seats and head for the door, but is stopped by the Professor."

"Jaden, I'm wondering if I may speak with you alone for a minute."

Jaden looks at Jubilee who's only reaction is to shrug.

Logan and Ororo exit Professor X's office while Jubilee looks on. Jaden looks over his shoulder, and nods to Jubilee. She quietly leaves the office, and closes the door behind her.

**:Somewhere in the Xavier Institute:**

Kurt bamfs into several locations around the Institute. He wasn't sure what Amanda's range was for teleporting, but he was sure that she couldn't have gone far. After several minutes, Kurt teleports onto the basketball court, and has all but given up hope when he sees a shadow cast upon the court by the raising sun behind him. He turns around, looks up at the Institute roof, and teleports leaving a cloud of sulfer in his wake.

Kurt bamfs onto the Institute roof. His sudden appearance startles Amanda, causing her to lose her balance, and fall over the edge. Kurt dives off of the roof, and grabs Amanda. They fall in tandem, until Kurt bamfs an instant before they hit the ground.

They re-appear back on the roof, Amanda still holding tight to Kurt. Kurt holds her and guides her to sit on the roof next to him. Amanda buries her face into Kurt's chest, still crying from the fright of the fall, but mostly she was still upset from what happened in Kurt's room. Amanda eventually calms down, gaining solace in Kurt's arms. They sit alone on the roof in silence until Amanda reaches down, and realizes that Kurt's tail is not wrapped around her waist. It had been awhile, but she remembered how Kurt always wrapped his tail around her waist whenever he held her close. It kind of weirded her out at first, but she had come to take comfort in the feeling of his tail around her waist. Now the thing that she had always taken for granted when they were together wasn't there anymore.

"Ummmm, Kurt," Amanda finally breaks the silence.

"Yes Amanda?" Kurt replies causing her to inwardly gasp.

The sound of Kurt saying her name was like a dagger to her already straining heart. He always referred to her as Liebchen, or Liebe. He never called her by name when they were alone, but after what she had put him through, she really couldn't blame her if he hated her.

"I-I-I'm Sorry Kurt," Amanda finally utters

"I know Amanda; it's not your fault." Kurt replies.

Amanda feels his muscles tense up under her. She can tell that he is restraining himself.

"You had no control over what happened." Kurt says sympathetically, "Your powers manifested, and you had to move to Germany. It's alright….."

"No it's not alright Kurt!" Amanda says as she crawls out from Kurt's arms, "I left you, and didn't even think about how my leaving would affect you. I was so wrapped up in my own problems, that I didn't even think that you might be hurting too."

"Amanda, I'm not going to lie to you. You really hurt me when you left. No letters, no phone calls, nothing." Kurt sits up, and faces her, "You called me once, and that was it….But"

"Kur…..I-I'm really sorry." Amanda says, ashamed of herself, "I tried to write you, but I just didn't know what to say."

"You didn't seem to have a problem telling them to Kitty." Kurt retorts

Amanda looks up at Kurt in horror before looking back down at her feet. Yes it was cruel of him to say that, but she knew that she deserved it.

Amanda shifts uncomfortably, "Well…..I just need to talk to someone, and….."

"Why couldn't you talk to me?" Kurt says beginning to get aggravated, "You used to tell me everything, why would a few thousand miles change anything?"

Tears begin to form in Amanda's eyes again. She forces herself to look up to see the fur on Kurt's face matted from tears of his own.

"Kurt, why can't things just go back to the way they were before?" Amanda sobbingly asks.

"Because they can't, and they never will." Kurt says just above a whisper. "We can't deny that things have changed Amanda."

It killed her every time he called her by name. How she wished that he would call her Liebe just once. At least then she would know that he was beginning forgive her.

"Kurt, I know that things have changed, but I still care about you, and no matter what has happened between us that has forced us apart, I-I still want to be with you."

Kurt sits quietly staring out over the Institute grounds. Amanda begins to get nervous after not hearing anything out of Kurt for almost a minute. She worries that she is about to lose him forever when he finally speaks.

"A-Amanda, I understand. I know how hard it must have been for you." Kurt says quietly, "It killed me when I left my adopted parents in Germany. Unlike me though, you weren't born with your mutation. You grew up having a normal childhood, and then that all changed."

Amanda begins to feel guilty. She realizes that no matter what she may have gone through, it is nothing compared to what Kurt has had to live through. Yes, she had a normal childhood, and oh how she wished that he had at least that much.

She wasn't the only one affected by what happened to her. It took a lot of courage for her mother to return to the clan in Germany. Her father was still in Bayville working, but at least they all had each other. Kurt had to go through this alone. She even put Kitty in the precarious position of choosing whether to keep Amanda's secret, or to try and help her friend. It was time for her to stop thinking about herself.

"Kurt, Kitty told me that you read my letters, so I think that you know how I feel, and I think that you feel the same way." Amanda says as she leans over to him and wraps her arms around him. "I realize that I destroyed whatever trust we had between us, but if it's alright with you, I'd like to start over. We don't have to rush things. We'll start out as friends again, and go from there. I-I just don't want to lose you from my life."

"Me too…..Me too, I'd really like that a lot." Kurt says as he reaches up and starts stroking her hair.

Amanda looks up and sees the pendant that she gave him that day they said good bye at the airport. She reaches up and starts to caress the smooth blue gem between her fingers.

Just then, she feels Kurt's tail gently snake around her waist. A slight smile appears on Amanda's face as she lets go of the pendant and reaches down to feel the velvety fur on his tail. They sit on the roof in comfortable silence, as the warm sun washes over them. Kurt glances down at Amanda, and for the first time in a month, he looks forward to what the day has in store.

**:Outside Professor Xavier's Office:**

Jubilee steps out from Professor X's office and closes the door behind her. Logan and Ororo are no where to be seen. She contemplates waiting for Jaden, but realizes that she should get ready for school. She turns and begins walking to her room to get ready fro school when she hears a voice from behind her.

"So, I guess this means that everything is over between us huh?"

Jubilee turns around quickly to see Bobby leaning against the wall.

"I just want to know one thing," Bobby asks Jubilee, who is speechless at the moment. "Did you feel anything for me?"

"Bobby I….."

"Stop right there; I already know the answer." Bobby says before turning around and walking away. "Have fun with your new boyfriend."

"Bobby I'm really sorry" Jubilee shouts at Bobby who ignores her and continues to walk away. "I'm sorry….."

Meanwhile inside the office, Professor X has rolled his wheel chair over to the window, and Jaden is standing next to him.

"Jaden, I believe that Jubilee is not the only one having problems with nightmares. As I understand it, you have chronic insomnia because of it."

"Sleep is vastly over rated" Is the only response that Jaden gives with out even turning away from the window.

"Jaden, I want to help you, but I can't do anything unless you open up not only to me, but to people in general."

"I know professor but….."

Suddenly Jean, Scott, Ororo, and Logan burst into the office.

"Professor!" Shouts Jean, "There was an explosion out side of town. It's all over the news."

Professor Xavier rolls over to a bookshelf that opens up to reveal a hidden computer. A monitor powers up, and tunes into the local news.

Everyone gathers around the computer monitor to see what is happening. Jaden, whom is still a little shocked after seeing a giant computer just pop out from behind a bookshelf, quietly keeps to the back of the group, but still staying close enough to see what is happening on the screen.

"Look there!" says the Professor as he wheels himself towards the control panel. Jaden watches as the Professor types on the keyboard and turns various knobs on the control panel. The picture on the giant monitor freezes, and the Professor uses the computer to zoom in and enhance a small part of the picture to reveal silvery spherical object.

Jaden is amazed that the Professor was able to notice such a tiny detail amongst the chaos in the picture.

"Magneto!" Expounds Scott.

A reaction that causes Jaden to look up at Scott, and wonder. "Who the hell is Magneto?"

**:Rubble of the former Acolyte Base:**

News helicopters circle around the pillar of smoke billowing from the former Acolyte Base. The police and fire department start filing into the area. On ground level, authorities try to sort out what happen. A second mysterious explosion in the Bayville area in the same month has the police and fire department mystified.

Meanwhile, below their very feet, Gambit, his clothes tattered and scorched, carries his unconscious friend Piotr into the base's garage. With Piotr unconscious, there is no way that he would be able to get the both of them out on his motorcycle. Gambit loads his friend into the nearest car. Luckily Magneto left the keys in all of his cars. He knew that the Acolytes would never dare touch any of his cars, but it wasn't like Magneto was around to stop him. Gambit is about to get into the driver seat, forever turning his back on Magneto and the Acolytes when he pauses for a second. Gambit turns around and to face the long rows of expensive antique cars. As big a sign as any of Magneto's hypocrisy. He claimed to have a noble cause, but stealing for personal gain was in no way beneath him.

Gambit musters what little energy he has left and, with one swipe of his hand, uses the full force of his raw mutant ability to blow up each of the cars. As one care blows up, it ignites the car next to it, and so on causing a chain reaction of explosions causing police officers and firemen on the surface to begin scurrying away from the scene in hopes of avoiding what they think are aftershocks to an earthquake.

As the police run for their lives, the secret entrance to the Base garage opens and Gambit speeds out in one of Magneto's antique cars.

* * *

Well I hope that you liked the chapter. Thanx for reading, and please don't forget to review. 


	13. Alert!

Here is the next chapter. I don't think that it's my best work, but it's more of a filler chapter to bring resolution to the events of the last chapter, and to set up the next chapter. Hope you like it, and please don't forget to review.

* * *

**:Roof of the Xavier Institute:**

Kurt and Amanda sit on the roof in comfortable silence, as the warm sun washes over them, Kurt glances down at Amanda, and for the first time in a month, he looks forward to what the day has in store. Suddenly, the serenity of the moment is disrupted by the mansion security system. Kurt springs to his feet and surveys the mansion grounds. Amanda looks up at him from her spot on the roof.

"What's wrong Kurt?" Amanda asks.

Kurt sees a car speed up the driveway and stop at the Mansion main entrance. "Nothing to worry about." Kurt says. "Come on." Kurt says as he grabs Amanda's hand and with a puff of smoke, they disappear from the roof.

Moments later, Kurt and Amanda reappear in his room. "Stay here." Kurt says quickly before teleporting away.

"Humph! I defy the laws of physics to travel half way around the world, and I don't even rate a seat at the show." Amanda pouts.

**:Professor Xavier's Office:**

Jaden stands in the corner of the Professor's office in a state of shell shock. The Mansion security system is blaring. The news feed on the computer monitor is changed to a video feed from one of the Institute's surveillance cameras. A car is speeding down the road towards the Institute's main gate. Everyone is too preoccupied with the incoming car to even notice Jaden in the corner. Kitty and Rogue burst into the office, followed by Kurt who teleports in right next to Jaden. Kurt's sudden entrance startles Jaden and causes him to fall into the shadow that he is standing on.

Suddenly, Jubilee comes running into the office, but is immediately stopped by Wolverine at the door. "Sorry Kid, but you know that you're not supposed to be here during an alert."

"But what about Jaden?" Jubilee asks very worried about her friend, which was substantiated since this was Jaden's first alert situation. "Where is he"

A second later, Jaden falls out of a shadow under a table. Jaden lies on his back looking up at Jubilee and Logan. Logan reaches down, and helps Jaden to his feet. "Jubilee, take Jaden somewhere safe until the alert is over." Wolverine commands, "And I don't mean back to his room!" He says before unceremoniously shoving them out and closing the door behind them.

"Ummmm, what's going on?" Jaden asks, still not entirely sure what is going on.

"Hmmm, I guess no one has had the time to fill you in on the security here." Jubilee chuckles in light of the unknown circumstances that brought about the Alert. "Basically, if there is a security breach, the alarms go off. The older kids run off with the adults to go save the day while we have to go to designated safe zones and miss out on all the action."

"So where are these safe zones?"

"Basically anywhere in the Institute away from windows and such, but if we are able to, we are supposed to go to our rooms." Jubilee explains.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around then."

"What do you mean?" Jubilee asks

"Well that big scruffy guy said that you couldn't go with me to my room."

"Yeah, but he didn't say that you couldn't come to mine." Jubilee says as she winks mischievously.

Jaden knows better than to try to argue with her so he lets out a sigh and walks with Jubilee to her room.

Meanwhile, in Xavier's office, the X-Men are gathered around the monitor watching as the mystery car speeds closer to the Institute gate.

"Activating Security System." Scott says as he taps the keys on the control panel.

"No, not yet Scott." Says the Professor. "I don't think that we may be in any danger."

"But Professor," Scott pleads, "With all that is happening on the news, there is no telling what Magneto is up to."

"Charles, we have to activate the security system!" Says Wolverine. "This may be an attack."

"No Logan. I can't, scan the driver for some reason, yet I still have a feeling that this not an attack." Says the Professor.

Scott uses the computer to zoom in on the driver of the car. "Gambit." Scott says forcefully.

"Gambit?" Rogue whispers to herself softly causing Wolverine, with his super human hearing, to glance in her direction.

"But, Like, why would we just drive up to the mansion if he was attacking us?" Kitty observes.

"This doesn't feel right and I don't trust that kid as far as I can throw him, but the Half Pint has a good point Charles." Wolverine adds getting strange looks from the rest of the group. "I think maybe we should at least check him out."

"Scott?" The Professor looks at Cyclops trying to gauge his opinion on the matter.

Scott looks at the screen and then at the Professor. After a few seconds, he nods his head in approval.

"Then it is settled." Says the Professor. "Scott, open the gates and let him in. The rest of us will go to the main entrance to meet him."

The X-Men hurry out of the office, with Rogue noticeably in the lead, and head for the Mansion entrance. Kurt on the other hand ducks into the corner and teleports away without anyone noticing.

**:Kurt's Room:**

Amanda sits on Kurt's bed in a huff. She was a bit afraid because she didn't know what was going on, but she was angrier at Kurt for leaving her alone during a potentially dangerous situation. She has mental images of Kurt in the middle of a fight. Of Kurt getting blasted and lying, disemboweled, on the ground. The more the sat and thought about it, the more she worried. She was afraid that after she had just gotten Kurt back, that she was going to lose him again. She works herself into a hysteria and is about to run out of the room to go look for Kurt. Rescue him if need be.

Amanda gets up from the bed and begins to walk towards the door when she is startled by Kurt bamfing in next to her. She waves the sulfur away from her face and literally tackles Kurt.

To Kurt's surprise, Amanda embraces him tightly. Almost to the point where she is cutting off his oxygen supply. "A-Amanda!"

Amanda releases Kurt and then immediately slaps him across the face. "You Jerk! I was thinking that you were disemboweled somewhere or something."

"Errrr Sorry about that, but I had to check in with the rest of the X-Men" Kurt says as he tries to calm Amanda down. "It doesn't look like anything serious, but I'll have to get back before anyone misses me."

"No Kurt don't leave me here alone again." Amanda pleads.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come with me it may still be too dangerous." Kurt Ponders for a moment. "What if I take you to one of the girl's rooms and you can wait out the Alert there?"

"Well I guess that would be better than sitting here alone," Amanda gets a big smile on her face, "But I can make it by myself now." Amanda says with a grin. A disk of light appears at her feet. As she waves goodbye to Kurt, his eyes are blinded by a flash of light, and she is gone.

After a few seconds, Kurt finally regains his eyesight. He looks around the room and shrugs before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

**:Unknown Facility Somewhere in Bayville:**

The darkness of an immense facility is illuminated as the lights turn on one by one. Various pieces of equipment come to life and a seemingly nondescript wall suddenly comes to life. The individual metal tiles move and rearrange themselves to form an opening to allow a silver sphere to enter. Once the sphere is safely inside, the wall tiles return to their original arrangement, as if they never moved.

The Sphere opens up and Magneto slowly levitates out. His uniform is battered and his cloak is tattered. He floats across the room but suddenly collapses from his usual condescending posture, and falls to the ground.

A door opens up and a man dressed all in white calmly steps out into the room. He looks down with his red eyes at Magneto's unconscious body. He glances over his shoulder back at the door, and gestures. A team of similarly dressed people scurry out with a gurney to attend to Magneto. They lift Magneto onto the gurney and wheel him through the door followed by the red eyed stranger.

**:Xavier Institute:**

Jubilee and Jaden are walking through the halls of the girl's wing on their way to her room. Jaden is quiet as usual, and is walking next to Jubilee with his hands in his pockets. Jubilee has her arm wrapped around Jaden's, and is resting her head on his shoulder as they make their way to her room. They are a few doors away from her room when they are both blinded by a flash of light. The next thing they know, Jubilee and Jaden are knocked to the ground as Amanda plops down on top of them.

"Ouch! I need to work on my landings." Amanda says as rubs her butt before noticing who she is sitting on. "Errrr Sorry" She says as she gets up and helps them to their feet.

"Another one?" Jaden expounds rather uncharacteristically. "How many people around here can teleport anyway, and why do they always seem to drop down onto my lap?"

"Uhh, Amanda right?" Jubilee says quizzically. "W-Wait, aren't you supposed to be in Italy or something?"

"Umm Germany, well closer to Switzerland really." Amanda replies.

"Huh? Ummmm the blue guy's friend right? Jaden

"I take it that you're new." Amanda chuckles.

"Yeah, I uh came here with Jubilee when she moved back to the Institute." Jaden answers.

"So what are you doing here?" Jubilee asks. "Did you fly in to visit Kurt?"

"No," Amanda answers. "That's a long story actually."

"Well who knows how long this Alert will last, and Jaden and I have nothing else to do at the moment."

Tabitha sticks her head out of the room. "Damnit can't a girl get some sleep without people raising a raucous all the time!"

"Uh you do realize that we are in an alert right?" Says Jubilee.

"Is that what all the raucous is all about?" Tabitha says groggily. "Well in any case we are supposed to go to our rooms during Alerts, so I'm right where I should be." Tabitha says before going back into her room.

Jaden is a bit puzzled as Jubilee leans up against the wall by Tabitha's door. "One….. Two….. Three….."

Just as Jubilee finishes saying the word "Three", she points to the door, it flies open, and Tabitha sticks her head out. "Amanda? Aren't you supposed to be in France or something?"

"Here we go again!" Amanda huffs. "I should draft a memo and post it on the Institute bulletin board."

**:Mansion Main Entrance:**

Kurt teleports to the mansion's main entrance where Professor X and the rest of the X-Men wait, warily, for Gambit to arrive.

Kitty is the only one to notice Kurt's delayed entrance, and subtly steps towards him. "How is Amanda?" She whispers

"She's fine. She was a little freaked out at first, but is waiting out the Alert in the girl's wing." Kurt whispers back.

"How are you?" Kitty asks which gets a quizzical look from Kurt.

"Ummmm. Okay, but I think I'll get better after we get a chance to work a few things out."

"Good." Kitty whispers with some concern in her voice. She is about to say something when the car sheiks to a halt in front of the mansion main entrance. He jumps out of the car and opens the back door to reveal Piotr lying unconscious in the back seat.

"Gambit what happened?" asks the Professor. "Where is Magnus?"

"Sorry Professor, but Gambit can't explain right now." He blurts out as he pulls Piotr's body from the car with the help of Logan and Scott. "Gambit didn't know where else to go."

"Of course Gambit." Says the Professor. "Scott, Logan please take Piotr and Gambit to the infirmary. Mr. McCoy is already waiting.

Logan and Scott carry Piotr to the infirmary. Everyone walks back into the mansion but keep a wary eye on Gambit, his clothes tattered and frayed, as he slowly follows Logan and Scott. Rogue stands silent as Gambit walks by. They're eyes meet momentarily. He gives her a wry smile, before entering the Mansion.

Gambit enters the main foyer of the mansion when he finally collapses. Rogue and Kurt hurry to his side to prop him up. "Thanks Cher, Gambit always knew that he would fall for a girl like you."

Rogue blushes slightly and Gambit's remark. "Even when he's in this state, he's still a flirt." Rogue thinks to herself.

Kurt on the other hand looks up at Gambit, and then to Rogue. He does not share Rogue's amusement with Gambit's statement. He gets a miffed expression on his face. "Come on SIS!" Kurt makes sure to place special emphasis on the fact that she is his sister in hopes that Gambit gets the point. "Let's get the Swamp Rat to the infirmary before he dies and stinks up the place."

Kurt's efforts go unnoticed by Rogue who is too concerned with Gambit's present state, and more importantly, how he got that way.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter, but it was one of those filler chapters to set up the next story arch. I originally planned to start the next chapter the next day, but there were a few lose ends that needed to be resolved before the next chapter. Hope you liked the chapter, and please review. 


	14. Training Day

Here is the next chapter. It should be better than the last one. This chapter should help move the plot along

* * *

**:Danger Room:**

Jaden and Bobby run through the danger room. Their hands are shackled together, and they are doing the best they can to avoid the various obstacles. A spinning saw shoots out of the wall at Jaden. He tries to jump up and over it, but Bobby, no where near as agile as Jaden, isn't able to jump as high, and ends up pulling Jaden down with him. The saw barely missed the two boys.

"Damnit! What are your feet frozen to the ground or something!" Jaden yells as he pushes Bobby off of him.

"That's it!" Bobby quips as he ices up his body. "Lets Move!"

Bobby starts spraying ice so that he can start skating through the course.

"W-Wait! Jaden yells.

Bobby skates forward with Jaden slipping and sliding behind him. The two boys make it a few feet before Jaden falls off of the icy bridge that Bobby has created.

"A-hey!" Bobby yells as he reaches down with his free hand. Bobby is standing at the apex of his ice bridge while Jaden dangles by his arm which is bound to Bobby.

"Damnit Bobby!" Jaden yells as he looks down to see a pair of buzz saws below him. "Are you deliberately trying to kill me?"

"Well the thought has crossed my mind a few times." Bobby yells back. "What's so friggin hard? Just skate along behind me!"

"I don't know how to skate you friggin Pop Cycle! It's not like he do a lot of ice skating in L.A.!"

As the two boys argue, a flame thrower blasts Bobby's ice bridge causing Bobby and Jaden to fall towards the waiting buzz saws.

"Come on! Try and keep up!" Jaden yells. "Jump as soon as you land and follow my lead."

"Land! We're heading straight for those saws!"

Jaden does a forward flip and plants his right foot on the exact center of the spinning blade where it attaches to the swing arm. A split second after landing, he jumps again towards the next buzz saw.

"ARE YOU CRAZY OR JUST STUPID!" Bobby shouts.

Right after Jaden jumps off from the first saw, Bobby touches down and ungracefully stumbles over the second where Jaden balances on one foot. Bobby knocks Jaden off balance and the two boys fall towards the ground. Suddenly, the floor opens up to reveal a fiery pit.

"Make a ramp towards that wall" Jaden yells to Bobby.

"What? You're fucking suicidal we'll be squashed!

"Just do it!" Jaden orders.

Reluctantly, Bobby does as he is told and freezes a ramp that end right into the side of a solid wall. Jaden and Bobby hit the ramp and begin sliding towards the wall.

"This is nuts! We're going to be flattened!" Bobby yells in fear.

As the two boys side down the icy ramp, metal tentacles shoot out of the wall and lash out at the ramp which causes Bobby to scream at the top of his lungs. "WHOAAAAAA!" A split second before the tentacle smashes the ramp, the two boys disappear into a shadow on the wall. A split second later Jaden and Bobby tumble out of another shadow at the base of another wall.

Bobby is sprawled on top of Jaden. He looks up at Jaden with a great deal of distain. "You're FUCKING nuts you know that! You almost got us….." Suddenly the wall opens up behind bobby, and a giant axe swings out at them.

"LOOK OUT!" Jaden shouts as he pushes Bobby to the side. The axe lands right between them and embeds itself in the floor.

Bobby rolls away from the axe and realizes that it cut the tether that bound him to Jaden. Jaden on the other hand is not as lucky. Instead of cutting him free, the axe blade has embedded Jaden's side of the binding into the floor leaving him helpless.

Bobby stands up and looks condescendingly down at Jaden. Jaden struggles to get free but the weight of the blade is too much. "Bobby help me."

Bobby gets a devious look on his face. He slowly starts to back away, ant then starts running away. "So long Sucker! I have a race to win."

"Bobby come back here!" Jaden shouts as he struggles against his bindings. Jaden's pupils dilate when the wall in front of him opens up. A giant hammer flies out towards Jaden. "Bobby….. BOBBY!"

1**:Gypsy Camp Somewhere in Germany:**

A blast flies towards Amanda. She jumps behind a large boulder. She summons a porting disk, and disappears leaving a flash of light. She reappears a few feet away. Another blast flies in her direction again. She quickly teleports away again leaving a flash in her wake. Her attacker continues to fire blasts at her, as she teleports in and out of the area. Amanda teleports behind her attacker, and knocks him to the ground. He quickly turns and fires a blast at her. Amanda quickly teleports out of the way of the blast which hits a tree behind her former location. Out of the corner of his eye Amanda's attacker sees a flash of light, and hurls a blast at it. Amanda reappears and is hit squarely in the chest sending her flying back.

"Stop the exercise!" Mrs. Sefton shouts, as she calmly walks out of the shadows with Amanda's grandmother Mrs. Szardos.

"Thank you for your help." Mrs. Sefton says the boy assisting with Amanda's training.

He nods his head, and walks out of the clearing.

Amanda sits up from where she landed, and rubs her chest.

"Ow, that hurt!" Amanda says wincing.

"Consider yourself lucky, in a real fight, that blast could have killed you." Her grandmother says

Amanda never knew her grandmother, and her mother never liked to talk about her when they lived in Bayville. Over that past few weeks, Amanda built a close relationship with her newly discovered family member. She was kind, and wise, just like she always imagined a grandmother to be. But, she had a flip side too. Although she always treated Amanda lovingly, when it came to learning how to use her powers, she was as strict a taskmaster as any hardened army drill sergeant.

"You're relying on your powers too much!" Mrs. Szardos scolds, "You can't keep teleporting around avoiding your attacker. Eventually, you're going to tire yourself out."

"Yes, and unlike your friend Kurt, when you teleport, there is a flash of light a split second before you port in, which is why you got hit." Mrs. Sefton adds

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Amanda pouts, "It's not like I can blast him back."

"Use your head Child," Her grandmother encourages, "Your power has its limits, and your wits are the only thing that you can rely on."

"What about the Winding Way?" A frustrated Amanda asks, "Everyone here can draw power from me to augment their abilities, when am I going to learn how to tap into it?"

"You must learn how to use your own abilities before you can tap into the Way." Her grandmother informs her, "The Way is only a temporary power boost meant to be used as a last resort. Once you tap into it, you'll be powerless for a time afterwards. This is why you need to learn how to use your other abilities besides your powers."

"I still don't understand." Says Amanda, "How much of a boost can it be?"

Mrs. Szardos looks at her daughter. She steps into the clearing that Amanda was training in. Mrs. Sefton closes her eyes and a second later, an aura forms around her body. She opens her eyes, and raises her hands above her head. Mrs. Sefton summons a ball of energy in her hands. With a shout, she hurls the ball of energy at the boulder that Amanda hid behind earlier. The energy ball hits the boulder exploding on contact. Amanda shields her eyes from the blast, and when the dust clears, the boulder is gone. Virtually vaporized, there is not even a pebble left.

Amanda's jaw drops at the sight. She has never seen her mother use her powers, but she was sure that there was no way that she was that powerful. She had seen Scott blow things up with his optic blasts, but he was never able to vaporize anything.

"Will, I be able to do that!" And amazed Amanda asks.

"No, the way only augments your existing powers, it does not give you abilities that you don't already have." Mrs. Szardos answers.

Amanda pouts a little. Granted, she hoped that she would never have to use her powers, but the thought of being able to vaporize something if she needed to was….. Well Cool.

"Well, that last blast took a lot out of me, if there is nothing else, can we call it a day?" Amanda pleads.

"Yes, I guess you can go, but we'll continue this later." Mrs. Sefton tells her daughter.

"Thanks Mom" Amanda says cheerfully, "If it's alright," Amanda stammers, c-can I go to Bayville?" She says with the most pathetic puppy dog eyes she can muster.

"Alright, but be back by 9:00 OUR TIME." Mrs. Sefton dictates, "Last time you, you came back from Bayville, although it was only 9:00 there, it was 3:00 in the morning here."

"Alright, I keep track of the time, I promise." Amanda says as she gives her mother a hug, and then gives one to her grandmother.

Amanda runs off to her room to get ready for her day trip to Bayville.

"This boy Kurt?" Mrs. Szardos asks, "He can teleport also?"

"Yes he can…..To be honest; I would prefer that he teach Amanda to use her powers." Mrs. Sefton answers.

"This boy lives in Bayville?" Mrs. Szardos inquires.

"Yes, he lives at the Institute I told you about." Says Mrs. Sefton, "I contemplated sending Amanda there. Her friends were there, and Kurt was there."

"I see, but she could not learn of the Winding Way there. Says Mrs. Szardos, "Is she close to this boy Kurt?"

"Yes, she is, He is-was her boyfriend for a time before we moved here." Says Mrs. Sefton, "Things were rough between them when we moved, they are starting to patch things up."

"I would like to meet this boy, Kurt," Says Mrs. Szardos, "Do you trust him?"

"Completely! He saved Amanda's life." Answers Mrs. Sefton.

"We should have a talk with Amanda. Perhaps spending some time at this Institute is the best thing for Amanda." Mrs. Szardos suggests. "She has gained some control, but she must learn more before she can begin learning how to tap into the Way."

"Should I get her before she leaves?" Mrs. Sefton asks.

"No, let the child go enjoy herself, we can talk later." Says Mrs. Szardos.

Meanwhile, in Amanda's room, Amanda comes out of her bathroom, drying her hair after her shower. She quickly gets dressed, and goes over to a large standing mirror that she had moved into her room to make "Mirror Porting" as she called it easier. She looks at her reflection in the mirror, and looks herself over real quick before she begins to say the incantation to contact Kitty. The edge of the mirror begins to glow as Amanda finishes the spell.

**:Xavier Institute Infirmary:**

Rogue stands in the doorway to Gambit's room in the infirmary. She is still wearing her workout clothes from her training session earlier that morning. She didn't plan to go to the infirmary. After the training session ended, she decided to go for a walk for a bit before returning to her room to shower. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, but she somehow made her way to the Infirmary.

She leans against the door jam, and looks at Gambit and Piotr in their beds. She decides that it would be best not to disturb him, so she begins to turn and leave when she hears a voice from behind her.

"Where you go'n Cher?"

"Uhh!" she stammers as she turns around quickly to face the source of the voice.

"Well Cher, if you are gonna come in, come in. Gambit says, wincing slightly as he tries to sit up.

"No, you need your rest. I don't know why I came here in the first place."

"Don't worry Cher, Gambit doesn't mind"

"So Ummm, What happened anyway?" Rogue asks. "At the base that is."

Gambit slouches in his bed, and looks over at his unconscious friend. "Lets just say that Ol' Bucket Head got what was coming to him."

"But you practically blew up a whole city block."

"Cher….."

"I mean how powerful are you anyway?" Rogue asks slightly miffed.

"Cher, you know….."

"That's just it Gambit, I don't know." Rogue says angrily. "I don't know anything about you!"

"But but Cher."

"No Gambit! I'm tired of your mysterious past crap. I wouldn't have been sneaking around with you for this long if I didn't find something in you that I liked, so why can't you just trust me?"

"You're right Cher, but it's going to take sometime for Gambit to get used to it."

"UGH! Why do I bother!" Rogue says before trudging to her room.

Piotr is jarred awake from Rogue's outburst. He slowly sits up in his bed and looks over at his roommate. "She does not seem to like you very much Comrade."

"Oui Mon ami." He smirks. "Gambit wagers that his Rogue hates him right now."

"Dis de girl you been sneaking out to see Comrade?"

"Oui."

"You like dis girl Comrade?" Piotr asks innocently.

"Oui"

"Den why don't you be nice to de girl"

"Because Gambit likes it when Cher is angry." He says mischievously which gets a confused look from Piotr.

**:Danger Room:**

Jaden struggles against his bindings. Suddenly, his pupils dilate when the wall in front of him opens up. A giant hammer flies out towards Jaden. "Bobby….. BOBBY!"

"Stop exercise!" Yells a voice from the control room at the top of the Danger Room.

Jaden opens his eyes and lets out a nervous yelp when he sees the face of the hammer a mere inch away from his face. He hears a loud rotary sound as the various pieces of equipment retracts into their various housings.

Jaden looks around nervously as he tugs at the chain, trying to free himself. He sees someone followed by a lager figure walking towards him through the haze of the Danger Room. The larger figure shoves the smaller one through the haze. Bobby stumbles through the haze and Wolverine follows close behind him.

Wolverine leans over, and with a quick sknit, he cuts the chain, freeing Jaden.

Jaden gets up from the floor and shoots a death stare at Bobby. Wolverine lightly nudges Jaden to stand with Bobby. Jaden hesitantly walks over to Bobby. As he turns around, his arm brushes against Bobby's. Bobby shoves Jaden, and Jaden shoves back.

"HEY!" Wolverine's voice echoes through the Danger Room.

The two boys exchange evil looks while Wolverine lets out an exasperated sigh. "Alright, so what can we learn from this exercise?"

"That Jaden is an uncoordinated, suicidal, little freak!" Bobby says while crossing his arms in disgust.

"I'm uncoordinated!" Jaden says defensively. "You're the one with his feet frozen to the floor half the time."

"What? I'm not the one that almost got us killed back there!"

"What the hell are you talking about! I saved us from being roasted during that exercise."

"No it was my ice slide that saved us, and as a matter of fact, if your uncoordinated ass didn't fall off my bridge, we could have made it to the end of the course without a problem, and wouldn't have needed saving.

"Are you so stupid that you think that they would have designed a course that could just be bridged over?" Jaden says while standing face to face with Bobby.

"Well my plan was a hell of a lot better than hop scotching through buzz saws like you wanted to do."

"Yeah, I'm SO sorry that you're such a lead footed klutz." Jaden says sarcastically.

"I am not a…."

"All right, cut it out you two!" Wolverine yells at the two boys. "First of all, this exercise is designed to teach you how to work together; not yell at each other, and try to leave the other behind."

Bobby jabs his elbow into Jaden's side causing Jaden to jump on top of Bobby. The two boys tussle on the ground. Wolverine grabs the two boys, and pins them on the ground. "Alright, you two want to duke it out. Fine!"

Wolverine walks over to a control panel on the wall and punches miscellaneous keys. The two boys are shocked when the floor opens up and a boxing ring rises in the middle of the Danger Room.

"You two want to kill each other, then we are going to do it right." Wolverine says to the two wide eyed boys. "I'm going to stand back and let you two duke it out as long as you want, and hopefully you two will get it out of your systems."

The two boys look at Wolverine then at each other. They slowly back away from each other towards their respective corners. They lace up their oversized gloves and climb into the ring.

"So, you're just going to let us go at it?" Jaden asks.

"Yes, but No Powers. Wolverine says.

"So you're not going to interfere, no matter what?" Asks Bobby.

"Yup" Wolverine says as he leans back in a chair at ring side.

Bobby and Jaden look at each other then start to make their way to the center of the ring. They both have trouble holding up the gloves that are obviously too big for them. Jaden, who is still able to use his superior agility, rushes in towards Bobby. Bobby gets a smirk on his face, and, to Wolverine's surprise, punches Jaden out with one punch. Bobby looks down at Jaden and drops a frozen boxing glove on top of him.

Bobby, still grinning, turns around and climbs out of the ring.

"What are you doing? I thought that I said NO POWERS!

"Ooops" Is all that Bobby has to say as he takes a seat at ring side.

**:Girl's Wing of the Xavier Institute:**

Kitty trudges into her bathroom. It is the first day of Summer Vacation which means one thing. Early morning training sessions. She walks over to the shower and turns on the water. She closes the door to reveal a tall standing mirror on the back of the door. Kitty begins to peal her sweat soaked uniform off when she sees a flash of light out of the corner of her eye.

"Hi Kitty," Amanda says cheerfully.

"Whoa," Kitty quickly grabs a towel off of a nearby rack, and covers herself. "A-Amanda! A little privacy please!"

Amanda blushes intensely, "OH! S-Sorry Kitty, I didn't mean to intrude." Amanda apologizes.

"No, its okay, you just caught me by surprise." Kitty remarks as she puts on a bath robe, "and besides, you're a girl, it's not like when Kurt Bamfs in…..Errrr, Sorry about that."

Amanda gets a puckered look on her face from the thought of Kurt porting in on a naked Kitty.

"S-So, can I get a ride?" Amanda asks.

"Of course you can." Kitty says cheerfully, "You picked a good day to come over. It's the first day of summer vacation. Although Logan took it as an opportunity to have an early morning Danger Room session."

"Ooooh, Sorry to hear that." Amanda says sympathetically.

"Nah, it's not that bad, at least now it means that we have the entire day off to do as we please…..That is unless Logan decides to have another training session this afternoon." Kitty pouts.

Amanda places her hand on her mirror. Kitty walks up to the tall standing mirror in her bathroom, and places her hand over the image of Amanda's hand. She begins to phase her fingers through the mirror, taking Amanda's hand. Kitty pulls on Amanda's arm, and she steps through the mirror into Kitty's bathroom.

"Thanks Kitty, I'll leave you to your shower now." Amanda says gratefully, "Do you know where Kurt is?"

"Probably passed out in his room." Kitty says as the two girls giggle.

With that, Amanda skips out of Kitty's bathroom on her way to find Kurt. Kitty smiles at her glee, then turns towards her long awaited shower. As Kitty climbs into the shower, she doesn't notice that the portal in her standing mirror is still open. The image of Amanda's room on the other side of the mirror begins to flicker, before finally closing, showing a reflection of Kitty's bathroom.

**Unknown Facility Somewhere in Bayville:**

Magneto stands in a darkened room slowly putting on his tattered uniform. His ribs are bandaged and the rest of his body is marked with various bumps and bruises. He winces as he attempts to raise his arms above his head to put on his chest armor. Try as he might, he finally drops his body armor, and reaches for the edge of the bed to balance himself.

Magneto holds his ribs and gasps for air as he sits on the bed. He is surprised when someone turns on the lights in the room.

"I thought I told you to get some rest." Says the mysterious red eyed doctor.

"I don't have time to rest." Magneto says as he tries to get up from the bed. "Every minute that I stay here, the closer Xavier gets to discovering what happened at my facility."

"I really don't think that you have to worry about Xavier. What could he do?"

"I think that you are greatly underestimating Xavier's intuitiveness."

"Oh on the contrary, I know exactly what Xavier if capable of knowing." The doctor smirks.

"What are you getting at?" Magneto asks irritated by the doctor's arrogance.

"Labeau and his iron clad companion went to Xavier's Institute after the….. Incident." Grins the strange doctor. "It is only a matter of time before Xavier knows everything."

Magneto stands before the red eyed doctor in complete shock. He stands silent for a long minute before grabbing his body armor, and storming out of the room.

"Where are you going? You aren't in any condition to take on Xavier and his students."

"I will deal with Xavier in due time." Magneto quips. "I have a few details to attend to."

"And what about Labeau?"

"He will come to you," Magneto says intuitively. "and when he does, then I will have him."

Magneto calmly levitates himself. The many metal objects in the room rattle as Magneto clutches his side. He steadies himself and straitens his posture. He turns and levitates down the hall leaving the doctor alone in the room with a fiendish grin.

**:Kurt's Room:**

Kurt's body lies limp on his bed. After the morning Danger Room session, he teleported straight to his room and collapsed onto his bed. Kurt never was a morning person, so starting the day with an early morning training session was not his favorite way to begin the day.

Kurt, still in his uniform, rustles in his bed when a bright light startles him, and sends him rolling onto the floor.

"Kurt?" Amanda says as she pokes around the room. "Kurt where are you?"

"A-Amanda?" Kurt pops his head up from behind the bed.

"There you are silly, what are you doing behind the bed?"

"I really wish that you would not do that." Kurt says rubbing the back of his head. "It's not exactly the most pleasant way to enter a room."

"Oh really?" Amanda pouts. "And I suppose that that stink bomb of an entrance you use is better."

"Hey I never said that I was any better." Kurt says with his hands up in a defensive, yet playful posture. "At least I don't need to wear sunscreen when I teleport."

"You fuzzy rat." Amanda scoffs. "Come here Damn You!"

"You have to catch me first!" Kurt smirks before teleporting away, leaving Amanda coughing and waving away a cloud of sulfuric smoke.

"That dirty rat!"

Amanda teleports out of Kurt's room. She reappears on the roof, which is one of his favorite hiding spots. After spending a few seconds on the roof, she teleports again. This time she teleports into the kitchen. Amanda's sudden entrance frightens Jamie who drops the bowl of cereal that he was carrying.

"Dangit!" Jamie says as he grabs a dish rag to clean up the mess. "Not again!"

"Oh I'm sorry Jamie… What do you mean again?"

"Kurt teleported in here a few minutes ago and made me drop my cereal."

"Thanks Jamie" Amanda says before teleporting away.

"Hey, what about this mess?"

Amanda teleports to the common room at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the student's rooms. She sniffs the air as she looks around. "I'm getting close."

Upon teleporting into the hallway of the girl's wing, Amanda hears a scream from Kitty's room. Suddenly, Kitty phases out of her bathroom with a towel wrapped around her.

"What the….." Amanda says before Kurt teleports in right next to her.

"Kitty." They say in unison.

"It's in my bathroom!" Kitty yells as she points at the wall.

"What's in your bathroom?" Kurt asks quizzically before a demon (Middleverse) from the Limbo dimension crashes through the wall, and sends Kurt, Amanda, and Kitty falling to the ground.

Kurt inadvertently falls with his face between Kitty's legs. Amanda turns to see Kurt in this rather precarious position. "KURT!" The two girls yell in unison as Kitty pushes Kurt off of her.

"But I….." Kurt stammers.

The three teens are too preoccupied to notice the demon stalk towards them. The demon lunges at them, but is stopped by a force field. Kurt, Amanda and Kitty look up to see the demon trapped in a bubble. They look a little further and see Jean concentrating to keep the demon trapped. "A little help here!"

"Well what do you want us to do?" Kurt asks. Before he has a chance to think of another witty comeback, Kitty steps up to Kurt and slaps him across the face. "A-hey!"

Kurt then turns away from Kitty, only to be met with another slap from Amanda.

"Come one Amanda, let's go help Jean take this thing to Mr. McCoy's lab, there's a holding pen where he can keep this thing while we figure out what is going on."

"Okay." Amanda answers before take one last glance at Kurt. "Humph!" Amanda snorts before turning up her nose at him.

"Vhat did I do?" Kurt calls down the hall while Jean, Amanda, and Kitty make their way to the stairs.

* * *

Thanx for reading, and please don't forget to review. 


	15. Dreamscape

Well, after a lot of hours at work, I've managed to find some time to hammer out a new chapter. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting for the next chapter, but I just could not find any time to work on it. I'm really pleased at how this chapter came out, and I hope that you like it. Enjoy.

* * *

Jaden steps warily out of the shadows. Everything is dark, and he is unable to see.

"Hold it right there you Mutie Freak!" A voice echoes through the darkness.

"Leave me alone! I just want to get to my class." Jubilee's voice rings out of the darkness.

"Jubilee!" Jaden cries out as he tries to figure out what direction that her voice came from.

"We don't want your kind around here anymore!" The strange voice echoes again.

"And what exactly is my kind!" Jubilee's voice calls out again. Jaden searches futilely, but her voice seems to echo from every direction.

"Mutants you stupid Bitch!" The strange voice echoes one last time before the darkness is broken by the image of Jubilee barreling down a set of steps, hitting her head on the concrete. Jaden runs towards the image in an attempt to rescue her, but the image always seems to be just out of reach.

Jubilee looks up groggily, blood streaming from her forehead, to find that she is being picked up by two boys.

A crowd begins to form. A boy walks up to Jubilee as the two other boys in lettermen jackets hold her up. With a grin on his face, he slaps Jubilee across the face, then punches her in the stomach causing her to lynch forward, coughing.

"Let's teach this Mutant Bitch not to stink up out school with her mutant stench!" Says the boy as the growing mob cheers him on.

Jaden looks on helplessly, unable to do anything to stop it. As Jaden looks on, the faces in the crown begin to distort. The sound becomes garbled and he is no longer able to make out what they are shouting. Suddenly, he is surrounded by the crowd. Jaden looks around at the myriad of disfigured shapes around him. The garbled sound coming from the crowd is deafening, and proves to be too much for him.

"Jaden!" Jubilee shouts. "Wake up Jaden please!"

Jaden is lying in a bed in the infirmary. He is whimpering, and tossing and turning violently. So much so, that he is strapped to the bed to prevent him from injuring himself.

Professor Xavier and Jubilee are sitting by the side of the bed while a concerned Ororo looks on from the doorway. "What is wrong Professor, Why won't he wake up?" Jubilee pleads.

"His mind is in chaos. It seems that he is trapped in some sort of nightmare."

"I know that he gets these terrible nightmares." Jubilee says. "That is why he never sleeps."

"No, I don't think that it is just nightmares." Says the Professor. "I detect a great amount of psychic activity from him."

"Our profile on the boy says nothing of any sort of psychic ability." Ororo interjects.

"Jubilee, when you came back to the institute, you were having problems with nightmares, correct?" Asks the Professor.

"Well, I was having them when I was in the hospital in L.A. too, but for some reason, I always slept better when Jaden was with me. I always thought it was because I felt safe with him or something."

"I think that there may be more to that." Replies the Professor. "If my theory is correct, then Jaden's mutant ability enables him to siphon away the nightmares of people around him. However, I don't think he can control it, or even knows that he has that ability for that matter."

"How terrible for the child to have to carry such a burden." Ororo adds sympathetically.

"So, what can we do to get him to wake up?" Jubilee asks.

"At the moment, he is trapped in some sort of a nightmare, we will have to enter his mind and help him find his way out."

"We?"

"Yes Jubilee, I will need your help to bring Jaden out of this."

Jubilee tries to grasp the concept of having to psychically enter Jaden's mind when he suddenly breaks into a fit of convulsions.

"Jubilee!" The Professor shouts. "We must do this now, or we risk losing him."

Jubilee springs to her feet and looks over Jaden's body in a panic. The Professor is yelling at her to take his hand, but she is too petrified to move.

**:Kitty's Bathroom:**

After sending the demon back to the Limbo dimension with the help of Forge's dimensional ray, Amanda, Kurt, Mr. McCoy, and a now fully dressed Kitty dig through the rubble of what used to be her bathroom. The kids clean as best they can while Mr. McCoy attempts to discover how the demon came to be in Kitty's bathroom.

"I believe that the portal that the demon may have used to gain entrance may be the same portal that you used to bring Amanda here from Germany." Mr. McCoy explains.

"What? But how?" Asks Kitty.

"I surmise that Amanda's mutant ability to teleport combined with her gypsy spell and your phasing ability has opened a tear between our dimension and this Limbo dimension similar to the tears caused by Forge's experiment."

"Uhhh, would you mind saying that again in English?" Kurt says quizzically.

"My mutant power plus, Gypsy magic, plus Kitty's mutant power equals portal." Amanda explains.

"That is correct Amanda" says Mr. McCoy. "If my hypothesis is correct, then it is quite possible that, under similar conditions, Kitty would be able to open a portal with the help of Kurt's mutant ability as well."

"Wait a minute!" Amanda yells. "Does this mean that there could be a tear on the other side of the portal in my room in Germany?"

Mr. McCoy ponders for a moment. "It is a definite possibility."

"Then one of those things could be rampaging through the camp at this very moment!"

"I know what you are thinking, but going through the portal again could only make the tear worse." Mr. McCoy explains. "You could possibly get stuck on the other side, or even in the Limbo dimension where those demons came from."

"But my family….." Amanda begs.

"Mr. McCoy is right." Kitty interrupts. "And besides, from what you told me in your letters, I think that the Gypsies can take care of themselves."

Amanda fights back the tears as she imagines demons terrorizing her camp in Germany. She feels that she is about to become overcome with emotion when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will be okay Liebe." Says Kurt, which immediately lifts Amanda's spirits.

"Let's go give your father a call, I'm sure that he will be glad to know that he will be having a visitor." Says Mr. McCoy.

Amanda smiles, and follows Mr. McCoy out of Kitty's bathroom.

"A-Hey!" Kitty quips. "Not to sound self centered or anything, but what about my bathroom?"

"Just use Rogue's bathroom." Kurt jibes as he steps through the hole in Kitty's wall. "It will be like when you two were sharing a room again." Kurt winks and follows Amanda and Mr. McCoy down the hall.

"Humph!" Kitty pouts before finally following the others to call Amanda's father.

Kitty's bathroom remains in a state of rubble. Suddenly, the stillness is broken by a flicker of light. The reflection of Kitty's bathroom in her large standing mirror begins to flicker again before returning to normal.

**:Amanda's Room, Gypsy Camp Somewhere in Germany:**

Everything in Amanda's room appears clam and serine. She keeps a very tidy room. Everything in it has its own place where it belongs. Everything, but a large standing mirror. Just the shear size of it seems to make it stand out among her other belongings. Everything in the room is still until a flicker of light shines out from the mirror. It starts as a momentary thing, but the flickers gradually increase until a constant stream of light shines out of the mirror. Shadows can be seen through the mirror as if something is walking by. Growling sounds can be heard emanating from the mirror before the light begins to flicker again, and the mirror returns to normal.

**:Xavier Institute Infirmary:**

"Jubilee!" The Professor shouts. "We must do this now, or we risk losing him."

Professor Xavier reaches out and takes Jubilee's hand. She shuts her eyes tight, and the next thing she knows, everything goes silent. Jubilee hesitantly opens her eyes, and finds herself in a dark space. She attempts to look around, but it is too dark for her to see anything.

"Jaden?" Jubilee calls out. "Professor?"

"I am here Jubilee." The Professor's voice rings out of the darkness.

"Where am I Professor? I can't see anything."

"You are in Jaden's mind, Jubilee. I will help you as much as I can, but you will have to find Jaden, and help him find his way out."

"But Professor, how am I going to find him" Jubilee asks. "I can't see a thing in here."

"This is Jaden's mind. Call out to him, and hopefully, he will find you."

"Great." Jubilee huffs.

"Jaden" She calls out. "Jaden can you hear me?"

Not knowing what else to do, she begins to walk through the darkness. She continues to call out for Jaden when she is stopped dead in her tracks by a scene direct from her nightmares.

"Let's teach this Mutant Bitch not to stink up out school with her mutant stench!" Says a boy as a growing mob cheers him on.

"No! No!" Jubilee is frozen in fear as she faces the most terrifying thing that she has ever lived through. She falls to the ground and begins crying hysterically. Jubilee closes her eyes, covers her ears, and tries to block it out. Try as she might, she can't stop thee images of the attack from filling her mind.

"Jubilee!" Calls the Professor.

Jubilee opens her eyes, to find that the image of her attack is gone. "W-What was that?" She says while wiping the tears from her face.

"I sensed that Jaden was very close to you just then, what did you do?" Asked the Professor.

"I-I was just walking when I thought of my attack." Jubilee explains. "Then the image appeared."

"Jaden must be experiencing the same scene." Deduces the Professor. "You must focus on the atta….."

"But Professor, I-I can't!" Jubilee stammers.

"Jubilee you must face your fears. It is the only way that you will be able to find Jaden."

"B-But….."

"Jubilee you must be strong of Jaden will be trapped in his mind forever."

A tear rolls down Jubilee's cheek. She closes her eyes, and focuses on the attack. The darkness around her begins smear into a spiral of color before finally forming the scene which transpired in front of Kelly High School. Jubilee watches with wide eyed terror as she is forced to relive her worst nightmare. She closes her eyes, but the images and voices play out in her mind

"Leave me alone Rodney. I just want to get to my class."

"We don't want your kind around here anymore!" A voice echoes.

"And what exactly is my kind!" Jubilee's voice rings out

"Mutants you stupid Bitch!" Rodney says as he knocks the books out of Jubilee's hands, and pushes her down the steps.

Jubilee gasps as she sees herself goes barreling down the school steps. Her lower lip quivers as she tries to be brave, and keep her composure. She nearly gags at the sight of herself bleeding from the head.

A crowd begins to form. Rodney walks up to Jubilee as two of the football players hold her up. With a grin on his face, he slaps Jubilee across the face, then punches her in the stomach causing her to lynch forward, coughing.

"Let's teach this Mutant Bitch not to stink up out school with her mutant stench!" Rodney says as the growing mob cheers him on.

Jubilee turns away from the scene before her. "P-Professor, I-I can't live through this again!" She says hysterically sobbing.

"You must be brave Jubilee." The Professor tells her. "You must face your fears."

"I can't Professor! It's too painful." She whimpers

"How can they do this?" Jubilee thinks to herself as she surveys the crowd. "Is everyone here just going to let this happen?" Jubilee hangs her head and begins to cry, fearful that she was about to be executed much to the delight and entertainment of the crowd.

Out of the crowd, the principal pushes his way through the crowd of cheering teens.

"What is going on here?" The principal interrupts, as several groans are heard from the crowd. Rodney backs off, and the football players drop Jubilee.

Jubilee breaths a sigh of relief. It was the first time that she actually was glad to see the principal.

The principal directs his attention to Rodney. "What have I told you about causing trouble! I could have you suspended for this!" the principal threatens.

"What! For that little Bitch!" Rodney reacts, "We play for the district championship this weekend!"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you started this." Says the principal

"She's a filthy Mutant! This is Horseshit!" Says Rodney trying to defend his actions.

Tears stream down Jubilees cheeks. Living through it once was hard enough, but having to watch it without anyway to do anything about it is tearing her apart from the inside. She knows that she is Jaden's only chance, so she forces herself to relive her nightmare with wide eyed horror.

"Mr…..you can't sus….." Rodney tries to plead his case, but is cut off.

"Don't worry about it Rodney, you'll still be able to play this weekend, but I still have to suspend you for a day because of what the other students saw." The Principal says. "I don't like this Mutant filth in my school any more that you do." He says as he looks down on Jubilee. "So I'll tell you what, you boys take care of her, and I'll make sure that this incident is overlooked on your rec….."

Suddenly, Jubilee's surroundings begin to smear together like a wet painting in the rain. She looks around quizzically as everything melts away. "Professor, S-Something is happening….."

"Jubilee be careful, I have no idea what may happen next."

The colors of Jubilees fade away into blackness again. She looks around, and sees a light shining down in the distance from a un-scene source. She warily walks towards it in hopes that it will somehow bring her closer to Jaden. She is momentarily blinded as she steps through the light. When her vision clears, she finds herself in an operating room. Jubilee scans the room and almost falls backwards from fright when she sees Rogue lying on an operating table with the top of her head completely removed, leaving her brain exposed. "P-Professor, this is really starting to creep me out! What's going on?"

"I suspect that my theory was correct. Judging from the psychic remains, this is a scene from one of Rogue's nightmares."

"But what does it mean? Rogue has nightmares about having the top of her skull removed?" Jubilee wonders out loud.

"Jubilee now is not the time to try and analyze someone's dream, you are getting closer to Jaden."

"So what do I do now?"

"Look for a door, or anything that can be used as some sort of portal."

Jubilee looks around the room, and sure enough, there is a door on the other side of the exam table that Rogue is lying on. She takes a big gulp, and begins to inch her way to the door. As she walks by an unconscious Rogue, try as she might, Jubilee can't stop herself from looking down at Rogue's open skull. She glances down just enough that she catches a glimpse of brain matter. She shuts her eyes tight while reaches up and covers her mouth with both hands. "It's only a dream….. It's ONLY a dream." She repeats to herself as she attempts to keep herself from throwing up.

Jubilee regains her composure, and continues to make her way to the door. She slowly backs away from the exam table before finally turning around to face the door. Not entirely sure if she can even touch anything in Jaden's dream world, she slowly reaches out for the doorknob. Just as she is about to grab a hold of the doorknob, the door suddenly opens, and a pale man dressed in Doctor's attire enters the room. Jubilee doesn't even have time to react. Before she even has a chance to think, the pale doctor walks right through her just like Kitty phases through walls. Jubilee turns to face the pale man, only to find that he did not seem to even notice her. The Doctor goes about his business as if she were not even there. He takes a seat at the exam table near Rogue's head, picks up a scalpel, and begins to make an incision into her brain. He then uses a pair of forceps to remove a small section of her brain, and place it into a glass beaker on the tray next to him.

Jubilee clutches her mouth with both hands, and runs through the doorway into the darkness of Jaden's dream world.

**:Xavier Institute Infirmary:**

Ororo stands in the door way of the Institute infirmary watching over Professor Xavier, Jubilee and Jaden. Jubilee and three Professor are seated at Jaden's bedside. The Professor has Jubilee by the hand, while his other hand is placed gently on Jaden's forehead.

Ororo watches with concern on her face, unable to do anything except hope and pray that her presence is enough to help. She leans against the door jam, and watches silently when Dr. McCoy walks up behind Ororo.

"So how are things going?" Dr. McCoy asks.

"The Boy's condition has stabilized, but only time will tell if Charles and Jubilee will be able to help Jaden." Ororo says with a slight twinge of worry on her voice. "And, what of the others?"

"Well, Kitty will probably be sharing a Bathroom with Rogue for awhile again, and it seems that we may be having another boarder staying with us for an extended period of time." Dr. McCoy chuckles.

"And, what about the two Acolytes?"

"The Russian fellow has been asleep for the most part, and as for Gambit….. Well, if his flirtatious manner is any sort of an indicator, I'd say that he is going to be just fine."

"I take it that Logan is not taking Gambit and Rogue's relationship very well." Ororo says with a wry grin.

"From what I've seen, Rogue is not taking their relationship very well either. At times, she wants to kill Gambit almost as much as Wolverine does."

"No matter how much of a love/hate relationship it may be, Logan is still not taking it likely, he has already told me that if Gambit is going to stay here, that Logan wants him to be in the room right next to his." Says Ororo to which Hank lets out a slight chuckle.

The two adults almost forget what else is happening in the room until Jubilee's body lurches forward. Dr. McCoy and Ororo turn to see that Jubilee is doubled over, and has thrown up on the floor at her feet.

Dr. McCoy rushes to Jubilee's side. He gently sits her upright in her chair, only to find that she is still unconscious. "Oh my, this does not bode well."

**:Jaden's Dream World:**

Jubilee runs through the doorway into the darkness of Jaden's dream world, bends over, and throws up at her feet. She clutches her side with one hand while she wipes her mouth on her coat sleeve. As Jubilee tries to recompose herself, she hears someone moan in the dark. She looks up to see that she is in someone's bedroom. She blushes when she sees two people kissing on the bed, but is unable to make out who it is in the dark. She quietly tries to make her way to the door in the dark. She is almost at the door when her curiosity gets the better of her again. She glances over to find Amanda and Kurt making out in the bed. She can't stop herself from staring as the two get hot and heavy in the dark. She stands with her mouth gaping open when a bright flash of light causes her to look away. When she looks back, she sees a large dark figure in a black and purple robe.

He reaches down, and effortlessly picks Amanda up by the throat.

"Amanda, No!" Kurt yells.

Jubilee watches as Kurt dives at the dark figure.

"The girl is mine!" A voice booms as a bright disk appears at his feet.

Jubilee is momentarily blinded again. When she looks back, Amanda and the dark figure are gone, and Kurt is left on huddled on the floor.

Jubilee can't help but feel sad for Kurt, but before she knows it, her surroundings begin to fade away to darkness again. Out of the darkness, she hears screams echo as though it were coming from all directions.

Aware that this could not be good, Jubilee hesitantly walks towards the sound. The screams grow louder as she gets closer. Jubilee can see a light in the distance, and quickens her pace. She finally reaches the source of the carnage to find bodies everywhere. A group of homeless and malnourished mutants, most of whom were children, were being slaughtered by another group of more powerful mutants.

Jubilee falls to her knees, and watches in horror as the group of attacking mutants literally tearing the weaker mutants apart. In one corner of the abandoned tunnel, she sees a large hairy mutant raping a young girl. Tears fall from Jubilee's eyes, almost on the verge of balling her eyes out. She thought that she would never in her life witness something more horrific than her attack, but this was on a scale of holocaust proportions.

Finally bored with his plaything, the beast uses his claws to eviscerate the poor girl making sure not to hit any of her vital organs which would have killed her instantly. She is lying on the ground, her voiced garbled by the blood building in her throat. The beast, shrouded in the shadows stands up, and steps into the light.

"SABERTOOTH!" Jubilee gasps.

Sabertooth looks down at his fallen prey, and licks the blood off of his hands like a feral cat.

"Jubilee!" The Professor's voice rings out. "I sense that Jaden is very close to you right now. He should be right next to you."

"Where Professor? I don't see him anywhere."

"Focus Jubilee, he is there somewhere."

Jubilee looks around, but doesn't see Jaden anywhere. She closes her eyes, and concentrates on Jaden in hopes that somehow he will reach out to her. The screams and cries begin to fade away one by one until there is only the sound of someone whimpering nearby. Jubilee opens her eyes. The nightmarish scene that she had wander into is still going on, but the only sound that she hears is that whimpering boy. She makes her way through the mayhem, people running around or passing right through her like ghosts. Jubilee ignores the chaos, and walks directly to a pile of rubble in the corner where the whimpering is coming from. When she looks behind the rubble, she finds that there is nothing there. Yet she can still hear the whimpering. "Jaden….. It's okay. It's Jubilee. I've come to help you get out." Suddenly, the shadows seem to pull away to reveal Jaden huddled in the fetal position.

Jubilee kneels down, and lightly touches him on the shoulder. He pulls away from her as if afraid that she might harm him. She gently reaches down again and touches him on the shoulder again. She gets him to turn around, and pulls him into her embrace. He begins crying hysterically into her shoulder. She does what she can to comfort him. Without letting him go, she quietly whispers. "I've got him Professor, Bring us home."

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I hope that you liked the chapter. Thanx for reading, please don't forget to review, and THANK YOU to those of you who have taken the time to submit reviews. 


	16. Two Weeks Later

Well look who just posted a new chapter! For those of you who have been following this fic, I apologize for my absence. So what have I been up to you ask? Life, that's what. I got a new job, and I've recently moved from Michigan to Hawaii because of it. Let me tell you, and moving cross-country is a pain in the (Expletive deleted). Then on top of that, I have to cross an ocean. Yes Hawaii is an island in the middle of the pacific. You'd be surprised how many people I have met who don't know that. As you can see, I've been pretty busy, but I'm all settled in (Well, mostly settled anyway) and I'm gonna try and get this fic finished. It's about three quarters of the way through, so there are a few more chapters after this one. I hope that this chapter was worth the wait, and I promise to have a new chapter up within the next week. Enjoy, and please don't forget to review.

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Two weeks have passed at the Xavier Institute. The summer is in full swing, and aside from the occasional early morning Danger Room session with Logan, the kids are enjoying their vacation. Much to the glee of Amara and Tabby, Remy and Piotr have become permanent guests of the Institute. As much as Logan hated to admit it, Gambit proved to be helpful with teaching the younger kids hand to hand combat. Logan was, however, quite miffed when he found out Gambit taught Jamie how to pick locks.

Gambit became very popular with the younger boys. Although the adults were wary about Gambit's predilection towards mischief, he proved to be dependable when they needed him to, and his rapport with the younger boys was great. He was just as much a role model for the boys as Scott or Kurt, but he wasn't nearly as serious as Scott, and way cooler in their eyes than Kurt. Gambit had become the cool older brother who would let them pig out on snacks, and help them think up a way to not get caught. The boys did, however, learn not to play cards with Remy. They were positive that he was cheating, but couldn't figure out how he was doing it.

The Professor was pleased that Gambit used his influence with the boys to help keep them out of trouble, however, when mischief did occur in the mansion, Gambit was usually involved somehow. Needless to say, Logan made good on his threat, and personally moved Remy into the room right next to his. He had to kick Bobby out to do it, but Bobby didn't mind. Actually Bobby was ecstatic since he got a room on the other side of the boy's wing away from Logan.

No one was really sure as to the extent of Rogue and Gambit's love-hate relationship, all the girls, however, knew better than to try and usurp Rogue's claim on her man, whatever that may be. The kids did enjoy their constant fighting. Well it wasn't really fighting, more like Rogue yelling at Gambit about missing breakfast because he overslept again, or being late for lunch because he was working on his bike with the younger boys. No matter how much she yelled at him, Gambit would only look at her with a wry grin causing her to get so exasperated that she would walk away in a huff.

"Why is it that you seem to go out of your way to make her angry?" Asked Sam as he wiped away a smudge from his face that he got while they were working in the garage.

"Because, Gambit loves it when his Cher gets angry."

"I wouldn't" Says Jamie "She scares me when she's angry"

Yet no matter how angry Rogue may have been at Remy during the day for whatever it was that he did, they always seemed to make up in time to go out on their nightly date. And of course, Gambit always made sure to be back before curfew. Something that gained him a little respect from Logan.

Piotr on the other hand was free game, and, much to the dismay of the boys, Amara and Tabby did not hesitate to fawn over the object of their affection. All the new attention was strange, even frightening to Piotr. He didn't quit know what to make of these strange American girls with their flowery perfumes, and googily eyed looks that Piotr likened to a frog's right before it is about to snatch a fly. A good part of his day was spent trying to dodge Amara and Tabitha's various advances. Piotr found that a good excuse to ditch the girls was to volunteer for miscellaneous tasks around the Institute. Ororo, Hank and the Professor quickly took a liking to the Russian teenager for both his politeness and his eagerness to help any way he could.

The two new additions proved to fit right in at the Institute. The one thing on everyone's mind but no one dared say out loud was how could two nice guys like Remy and Piotr work for the likes of Magneto?

The past two weeks were not all smiles and roses for everyone though. After Jaden woke up from his coma, he became a recluse, even more so than before. He was polite to everyone at the institute. He treated all the adults with respect. Every request was accompanied with a "please", and followed by a "thank you". Nothing was really resolved between him and Bobby. He finished his detention with Logan with no complaints. He showed up everyday, and did as he was told. He earned a great deal of respect from Logan because of it. Not just because he did what he was told without question, but because of this skill and athleticism. Hank confirmed that his agility was in no way augmented by his mutation, but purely through hard work. He walked into the institute with the best martial arts ability of any of the students, even among the X-Men. He could even give Logan a work out at times. As Logan watched Jaden over the past few weeks, he couldn't help but notice a familiarity with his style. He recognized many of the forms, but couldn't quite remember where he had seen it before. Logan tried to get him to open up a bit, but the only people Jaden really talked to was Jubilee, and the Professor.

Once Jaden finished his detention with Logan, he immersed himself in his psychic training with Professor Xavier. With the Professor's help Jaden started to learn the nature of his psychic abilities, and how, unbeknownst to him, they contributed to his chronic insomnia. The sessions were exhausting for Jaden and the Professor alike. It was difficult for Professor Xavier to sort through the many dreamscapes in Jaden's subconscious. Many of the nightmares that Jaden siphoned were from the various residents of the Institute. Xavier gained a great deal of insight into the personalities of many of his charges, and he had a feeling that, although he never showed it, Jaden did too. Aside from the people at the Institute, Jaden had hundreds of dreams in his subconscious from random strangers. Xavier was truly bewildered as to how Jaden was not driven mad from all the psychic activity in his brain. The Professor hypothesized that Jaden's insomnia was an innate form of self preservation. If Jaden had gone to sleep, he truly would have gone completely insane.

What made it more difficult was Jaden's persistence to not talk about himself or his past. Xavier was sure that some of the images, as horrific as some of them were, were not just nightmares, but memories. However, with no knowledge of Jaden's past, the Professor had no way of knowing which where nightmares and which were memories. Professor X could have easily just expunged all the images from Jaden's subconscious, but, without knowing which was which, he could very well wipe out every memory that Jaden had in the process.

Through their many sessions, Jaden had begun to learn how to put up mental barriers to prevent him from unintentionally siphoning dreams, and thus allowing him to sleep. What troubled Xavier, however, was that he had no idea what to do with the dreams that were already in Jaden's subconscious. The best that the Professor could hope for was that he could somehow help Jaden come to terms with his past. Xavier couldn't help but get the feeling, though, that Jaden knew more about his psychic abilities that he was letting on.

Although she was happy that she and Kurt were friends again, Amanda couldn't help but be a little sad. She missed her mother who decided to stay in Germany to continue her sorcery training. Since Amanda moved into the Institute, Amanda's father and the Professor had kept in close contact. Like any involved father, he always wanted to know Amada's progress, and of course, Amanda's behavior. He was a little intimidated when he first met Logan, but soon grew at ease knowing that he was watching out for the kids. With Logan and Xavier there, Mr. Sefton was sure that the Institute was probably the safest place in the world for his daughter. Amanda also missed her grandmother whom she had become very close to. She took solace in being at the Institute. She was surrounded by friends who accepted her, and her Father was always a phone call away. Unfortunately, not all phone calls are good ones.

One day, Jaden's session with the Professor was interrupted when Ororo knocked on his office door. "I'm sorry Charles, but you have a phone call from Mr. Sefton. He says that it is important."

Professor Xavier severs the connection between he and Jaden. Jaden groggily looks around, "Should I leave?" Jaden tries to stand up from his seat, but swoons, and falls back into the chair. "No Jaden, that is alright, you need to rest a bit to regain your strength. You may stay for a while."

The Professor takes the phone call with Mr. Sefton. "Hello Mr. Sefton. What can I do for you?"

"Well, Professor, I'm a little concerned about my wife. She hasn't contacted me in three days, and I was wondering if Amanda has heard anything from her. It's not like her to not contact me. Depending on what she is doing, she may be a few minutes late, but never this long."

"I'm sure everything is fine Mr. Sefton, but I will ask Amanda is she has heard anything from her mother."

"Thank you Professor"

The Professor hangs up the phone, and looks to Ororo. "Do you happen to know where Amanda is?"

"Hard to say Charles, Last I saw them, she was playing a game of teleport tag with Kurt. There is no telling where they could be on the premises."

Xavier presses his fingers to his temples and concentrates. A split second later, Amanda and Kurt teleport into the office; Kurt bamfs right into one of the chairs in front of the Professor's desk. "You called Professor." Jaden however, still a little zonked from his latest session with the Professor, is startled when Amanda drops right down into his lap. "Whoa!" they say in unison, which draws funny looks from everyone in the room.

"My hero." Amanda says before playfully giving Jaden a peck on the cheek, which causes him to blush slightly. "Err Sorry, Hehe." Amanda says as she gets up from Jaden's lap. "So what's up Professor?"

"Amanda, I just received a phone call from your father. He says that he has not heard from your mother in three days. Have you been in contact with her at all?"

"No Professor, I tried contacting her through my mirror this morning, but couldn't get anything. Since someone has to be near the mirror on the other side for it to work, I just assumed that she was busy with stuff."

"Don't worry Libe, I'm sure she's fine" Kurt says as he puts his arm over Amanda's shoulder.

"It is strange that she hasn't been in contact with you or your father. Ororo, could you fly the Blackbird to Germany, and take Amanda and Kurt to go check in one Mrs. Sefton and the Gypsies?"

"Do you mean it Professor!" Amanda's face lights up.

"Yes. If it turns out that everything is fine, then I'm sure that your mother wouldn't mind visiting with you for a few hours."

"And do you think we could stop off so that I could visit with mien grandparents?" Asks Kurt.

Meanwhile outside the office, Jubilee waits patiently by the door. Jaden's session with the Professor should almost be over, and she thought that she would come down to the office to meet him when he got out. As Jubilee leans against the wall, Tabby and Amara come walking down the hall. No doubt looking for where Piotr had disappeared.

"Hi Jubes, you wait'n in yer man? Tabby jabs playfully.

"Yeah… Err I mean, he's not my… Oh shut up Tabby!" Jubilee stammers, which causes Tabby and Amara to giggle.

"So what do you think they are doing in there?" Tabby says mischievously as she presses her ear to the door.

"Tabitha!" Amara stomps her foot. "You're going to get us into trouble AGAIN!"

"What are Kurt and Amanda doing in there?" Tabitha asks Jubilee

"What do you mean, only Jaden is in there. I didn't see them go in." Jubilee answers.

Suddenly Jubilee and Amara join Tabitha at the door. "Did the professor just say Germany? Amara whispers as the three girls listen intently at the door. "Shhhhh" goes Tabby.

"And what are you three up too?" The three girls jump with fright. They land on the floor with a loud thud, as they look up to see Kitty standing before them. "Quiet Kitty" Says Tabitha as the three girls go back to listening to the door. "They are talking about something that has to do with Germany."

Back in the office, Professor and the others hear the loud thud at the door. Ororo opens the door, and the three girls who were leaning against the door, come barreling into the office. The three girls look up sheepishly at Ororo. "Uh Hi" Says Tabitha "You know you wouldn't believe, the darndest think just happened…"

"You can get up now girls." Says the Professor. Amanda and I were just discussing a little trip to Germany so that she could visit her mother.

"Wohooo! Field trip, yeah!" Shouts Tabby before looking to see a stern expression on the Professor's face. "Oh come on Professor! How often does a trip to Germany come along? You said Amanda was just going for a visit, we won't be any trouble." Tabitha grabs Amara. "What do you mean we? Amara looks up at Tabby.

"A hey what about me?" Kitty pops her head into the office drawing exasperated looks from everyone in the room.

The Professor looks over to Amanda who has an excited look on her face. "Come on Professor, it'll be fun, and its only a day trip."

Xavier looks to Ororo who gives him a reassuring look. "Alright" says the Professor, "but if there is any sign that something is wrong, I want you (Ororo) to get the kids out of there."

Tabitha and Amara shriek and run to their rooms to get ready. However, Kitty stands there and says "What do you mean something wrong?"

Amanda walks up to Kitty, and puts her arm around Kitty's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing." Amanda says before teleporting them to the girl's wing to get ready, with Kurt following suit.

Jaden looks on at what just happened, and slowly gets up to leave. "Thanks for the session Professor, I think I'll be going." Jaden says as he walks towards Jubilee.

"Jaden when I said that they could go, I meant that you could go as well." Says the Professor.

"Nah, that's okay Professor, Field trips aren't really my thing."

"Jaden, I think that the trip would be good for you. You haven't left the Institute since you got here. I realize that you are having a hard time adjusting, but you have to learn to open up to people. There are lots of kids your age here, why not make some friends."

"I don't know Professor, I mean Jubilee and I sorta had plans." Jubilee looks at Jaden quizzically because of his obvious lie.

"Jubilee can go too. Trust me Jaden this will be good for you. You may even have some fun."

Jaden sighs because he knows that there is no way for him to talk his way out of this, so he and Jubilee go to get ready for the trip.

A little more than half an hour later, everyone has gathered in the hanger. Ororo told everyone to pack light since they were at the most only going to spend the night. Kurt and Jaden just finished loading the jet when Ray, Sam, Bobby, Roberto, and Jamie come running into the hanger.

"Hey wait up!" Yells Ray "We want to go to Germany too."

"Sorry boys, but this isn't a field trip, and besides I am going to have my hands full as it is keeping track of the children coming with me as it is." Ororo says to the now disappointed boys.

"Yeah boys, this is a girls night out sort of thing." Says Tabby.

"What about them?" Sam says, pointing to Jaden and Kurt.

"Like I said, girls night out." Tabitha says while putting her arms over Kurt and Jaden's shoulders. To which the two boys expound, "Hay!" in unison.

"Alright everyone," says Ororo "lets get on board, we have a long flight ahead of us."

Kurt teleports to the cockpit to ready the plane for take off. Ororo boards the plane followed by the rest of the kids, leaving the five boys pouting in the hanger. They watch pathetically as the plane zooms out of the hanger.

"Man this stinks!" says Roberto in a huff. "How come they get to go and we have to stay at the stink'n Institute."

"Well, if you boys have nothing better to do, then how about I take you boys out for ten mile hike and some wilderness training." A voice says from behind them. The boys turn around to see Logan standing before them. "Grab your gear we leave in ten minutes." To which the five boys give and exasperated groan.

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Well, there it was, I hope that you all liked it, and please don't forget to review. Thanx 


	17. Through the Looking Glass

Well, here is another chapter. I know I said last chapter that I would have another posted with in a week, but you know how life is sometimes. I hope that you enjoy the chapter.

Insert funny worded, grammatically incorrect disclaimer here:

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The blackbird crosses the boarder into Germany shortly before sunrise. All the kids were in the back of the plane sound asleep in their chairs except for Jaden who was in the cockpit with Ororo. She and Kurt took turns flying through the night, but Ororo took the majority of the shifts. After Kurt went to sleep, Jaden kept Ororo company in the cockpit. She reaches over and turns on the autopilot. "I'm going to go check on the others."

Jaden leans back, closes his eyes, and sits quietly for a few seconds. "They are fine." He says which causes Ororo to look over at him. Kurt is dreaming that he is sitting in Burger Bomb with stacks of hamburgers all around him… Amara is dreaming that she is standing at the edge of a volcano, and using her powers to cause waves of lava rise up… Jubil…"

"I was not aware that you had the ability to consciously scan people's dreams?"

Jaden opens his eyes, and sits up. "Yes, Professor and I have been working on it for a while now. I don't like doing it because it seems like an invasion of privacy to me. I know that I wouldn't want anyone going into my head and looking at my inner most thoughts."

Ororo looks over at the impressive and very mature young boy. "How very considerate of you."

Jaden actually enjoyed sitting in the cockpit. Ororo even allowed him to take the stick for a while. Jaden was a little disappointed to find out that he was still too young to learn how to fly the blackbird, but for the first time in his life, he looked forward to his next birthday.

As they approach the gypsy camp, Ororo asks Jaden to go into the back, and tell everyone that they will be arriving soon. Jaden un-straps from his seat and heads into the cabin of the plane. He turns on the lights, and a series of moans emanate from the curled up forms in their seats. "Ororo says that we'll be landing soon."

Amanda jostles Kurt who just rolls over in his seat. "Wake up Kurt!" Amanda says before pushing him off the seat.

"Hay! I could have been hurt." Kurt sits up and stretches out, his fur standing up on end like a cat's.

"That's what you get for not buckling your seatbelt." Kitty yawns.

Everyone slowly gets up and starts moving about the cabin. Everyone except Tabitha that is who has taken a whole row in the back of the jet for herself. Jaden makes his way to the last row to wake up Tabby. Just before he reaches Tabby's row, a leg pops out into the aisle and stops him from proceeding. Jaden looks down to see Amara stretched out in the row in front of Tabitha.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Amara says groggily. Tabitha has been known to blow up her fare share of alarm clocks.

Jaden looks down at Amara, but then hears Tabitha giggling in the next row. Jaden and Amara peak into the next row. Against Amara's warning, Jaden leans over. "Tabitha" he whispers to which she just giggles and mumbles something about Sam tickling her. Amara immediately perks up and looks down at Tabby as she tries to hold back the laughter. Jaden looks back at Amara who gives him a nod. He reaches down and shakes Tabby. "Tabitha wake up, we'll be landing soon." Suddenly, she grabs Jaden's arm and pulls him towards her. Jaden has a wide-eyed look on his face as Tabitha lays a big, wet, sloppy kiss. Jaden's arms flail about while Amara breaks out into a hysterical laughter. Tabitha opens her eyes, and realizes what she is doing. She lets go of Jaden, who then falls to the floor with a thud. Everyone rushes over to see what all the raucous is all about. Jaden sits on the floor with a flabbergasted expression and lipstick smeared on his cheek. Jubilee looks down at Jaden then over to a now deeply blushing Tabby. Jaden quickly gets up to his feet and gives Tabitha an awkward look before rushing to the front of the plane. Amara breaks into another fit of laughter, which leaves everyone with a confused look on their faces.

The Blackbird lands in a clearing near the camp. The ramp at the back of the plan lowers down, and Amanda practically leaps out of the jet before the ramp even touches the ground. Kurt teleports in front in front of her. "Slow down Liebe. I'm sure that you mother and Grandmother will be just fine."

"Yeah but…"

"If something is wrong here, we shouldn't be splitting up just yet." Says Ororo as she disembarks from the jet.

Amanda looks back at the group, and takes solace that they are all there to help. "The camp is this way." She points and leads the group towards the camp.

As they approach the camp, Amada feels a strong sense of foreboding. Suddenly, to Amara's horror, they find the camp in shambles. Amanda runs towards her mother's dwelling. Kurt teleports in front of her again to stop her from rushing off without know what dangers may remain in the camp. This time, she teleports herself, blinding everyone with a bright light.

"Amanda!" Kurt calls out.

Ororo turns to Kitty. "Kitty you've been here before, where could she have gone?"

"I-I don't know, the one time that I was here, I didn't leave her room."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaden see a flash or light. "There!" he points. "That wagon!"

Just as everyone directs their attention to the wagon, another flash of light is seen through the window.

"Amanda!" Ororo calls out. "Everyone spread out and find Amanda!"

Everyone pairs off and runs in different directions to search the compound while Storm flies off to search from above.

Jaden and Jubilee are searching the north end of the camp. Jubilee can't help but notice that Jaden seems preoccupied. "Is there something wrong Jaden? Does it have to do with what happened on the jet?" Jaden looks over with a surprised expression. "N-No, it's just that… That something doesn't feel right." He says as the sound of a twig snapping causes him to look over his shoulder.

Elsewhere in the camp, Tabitha and Amara are rummaging through one of the wrecked wagons. "What are you doing Tabitha? There is no one here, lets go check another wagon."

"Don't be such a kill joy Amara, and besides, we can't fly all this way with out going home with a little souvenir."

"You do realize that someone once lived here right?" Amara says while leaning up against the arch of the door. "This all belongs to them."

"Yeah well they're not here now are they? I doubt that they would miss anything." Says Tabitha as she digs under the bed to hidden treasure.

Amara turns and walks out of the wagon. "Come on Sam!"

"OW!" Tabitha exclaims pathetically as she crawls out from under the bed. Tabitha rubs the back of her head. She closes the door, as she leaves the wagon. Unbeknownst to Tabitha or Amara, there are giant claw marks on the back of the door offering a clue as to what may have happened to the inhabitants of the camp.

Kitty and Kurt walk through a different part of the camp. The prospect that she may have played an inadvertent role in what happened at the Gypsy camp weighs heavy on her mind. She and Kurt survey their surroundings. Kurt appears to be extra vigilant when Kitty startles him. "Kurt! This area looks familiar. I remember seeing this area out outside Amanda's window!"

Kurt and Kitty run over to one of the wagons. They fly open the door, and find Amanda huddled in the corner. "Amanda!" Kurt calls out and rushes to her side.

"Are you okay?" Kitty asks with a great deal of concern.

"They are gone." Amanda says barely above a whisper.

"Who is gone?" Kurt asks. "Your mother… Your grandmother?"

Amanda looks up at Kurt and Kitty with tear soaked eyes. "Everyone… They are all gone…"

**:New York:**

A tall figure walks through the Bayville Park. It's just past 2 am in the morning, yet tall man strolls through the park as if it were the middle of the day. Two shadow figures follow the strange man. As he makes his way across a bridge, he finds two other men, leaning up against a metal light post on the other side of the bridge. The tall man stops in the middle of the bridge, but doesn't seem to be worried in the least.

The two men following the lone man come up behind him. "You know, there are a lot of dangerous types in the park at this time of night old man. You know, if you want, we'll make sure that you make it through the park safely… For a fee that is."

"Hey you know what?" Says the other mugger. This here is our bridge. You have to pay a toll to cross our bridge, so hand over your wallet, and we'll let you cross."

The tall man stands in the middle of the bridge, and has no reaction to what the mugger said. "What are you deaf old man, hand over your wallet!" says one of the other muggers as they walk towards the middle of the bridge.

"I think he may be petrified with fear." Says another of the mugger.

"I think we scared the shit out of him." One of the muggers' jokes. "Is he standing in a puddle?"

"Alright old man, that's it fork it over!" One of the muggers tries to push over the tall man, but before he even touches him, the tall man reaches out and grabs him by the throat. The mugger's arms and legs flail about as the tall man lifts him up by the throat. One of the other thieves pulls out a knife and stabs him in the back. The tall man reaches back with his other arm, and pulls the knife out of his back. The stabber watches in amazement as the wound closes up with no indication of injury at all.

"Put him down old man!"

The tall man turns around and throws the mugger he had by the throat at the man behind him, knocking him to the ground. Before the guys on the other side of the bridge could react, the tall man throws the knife he pulled from his back, embedding it in the leg of one of his attackers. As he falls to the ground the remaining mugger pulls out a gun and proceeds empty the clip into the tall man. The mugger is horrified to see that the bullets do not seem to faze him at all, and every wound just closes up without even spilling a drop of blood. Having fired all the bullets, the mugger throws the gun at the tall man. The tall man grabs him by his shirt and lifts him up so that the mugger can look at him straight in the eye.

"What the hell are you, you freak?" says the terrified mugger as he looks into the tall man's fiery red eyes.

Without saying a word, the tall man drops the mugger. He slowly backs away before running away into the darkness. His three friends following suit.

"You're right, there are some dangerous things in this park tonight." Says the tall man as he watches the four thugs hobble off. "Isn't that right Gambit?"

A dark figure jumps down from a near by tree, and steps out from the shadows.

"My thanks for your help." Says the tall man.

"Gambit only took out one of de stragglers. You were never in any danger from dose four."

"So, to what do I owe this visit dear Gambit?

"It's happening again… Gambit needs you to do de ting that you do with his head."

"It's not an easy procedure." Says the tall man. "It will be expensive."

"Just tell Gambit when and he will have de money."

"Don't be in such a rush to agree dear Gambit. You don't even know what how much I'll charge yet. I have found a way to make the effect permanent, but it is a very dangerous procedure. There is a chance that you will not survive the procedure, so I will have to insist upon payment up front."

"Dats what you said last time, and yet here we are. How much is it going to cost Gambit dis time?"

"Fifty." Says the tall man calmly.

"Fifty!"

"I am one of the few doctors in the world who has experience with mutant physiology. I am the ONLY doctor in the world who has ever performed procedure like this, on humans or mutants, and have the patient survive. That is why, I am saying that it is Fifty"

"Gambit cannot afford dat"

"Well, like last time, we could work out an…" The tall man pauses. "Arrangement..."

"No! Gambit will get de money!" He says before turning and starting to walk away.

"Sabertooth is fine by the way." Says the tall man, which causes to Gambit to stop dead in his tracks. "He was in bad shape when he was brought to me. His healing factor may have saved his life, but it will be awhile before he's on his feet again."

"You take good care of him Doc cause he and Gambit have business to attend too." That said Gambit disappears into the shadows.

With a grin on his face, the tall man continues down the path through the park. Just as the tall man vanishes into the darkness of the night, the lamp next to the bridge starts to flicker. The light post bends to and fro before returning to its normal position.

**:Gypsy Camp Somewhere in Germany:**

"What do you mean they are gone?" Kitty exclaims. "People don't just vanish without a trace."

Suddenly, there is a loud raucous out side. Kurt and Kitty look down at Amanda who is in a semi-catatonic state. "Vat do we do, ve can't just leave her here."

There is another loud noise out side. "From the sound of it, she'll be saver in here than out there." Says Kitty. "We have to see what that noise is, someone may be in danger."

Kitty and Kurt leave the wagon to find Jaden tussling with a demon. The demon has pinned Jaden down, until Amara blasts it off of him. Another demon has Jubilee cornered between two carts. She blinds demon with some fireworks, but it only stops it for a second. Jaden comes diving out of a shadow and tackles the demon. As Jaden squares off against the demon, Kurt sees another one stalking him from behind one of the overturned wagons. Kurt teleports on top of the demon, which causes it to buck wildly.

"YEEEHAA!" Kurt yells out before the demon sends him flying off of it's back. Storm swoops down and catches Kurt. "Vere did they all come from?" Says Kurt as he looks down on the camp to see that more and more demons seem to just appear out of nowhere.

"I don't know, but we have to get everyone back to the jet." Says Storm.

That said, Kurt teleports from Storm's grasp, and bamfs in right next to Kitty who is frantically trying to keep demons from attacking the wagon that Amanda is in.

"Like what is the deal? They all seem to be converging on this one wagon!"

"It's Amanda!" Yells Kurt. "Belasco must have sent them through the tear to find her."

"Then we have to get her out of here!" Says Storm as she hovers over them, using lightning to try to keep as many of the demons at bay as possible. "Tabitha, blast a trench around the wagon and Amara fill it with lava!"

Jubilee shoots giant blasts of to give Tabby some cover as she drops bomb after bomb.

Meanwhile inside the wagon, Amanda huddles in the corner crying. She is oblivious to what is going on outside. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a flicker of light from across the room. The flicker intensifies. Amanda looks up from her corner to see that the light is coming from a mirror in the corner. She slowly crawls out of her corner towards the mirror. As she gets closer, Amanda sees the outline of a figure. The flickering continues, but as she gets closer, she can start to hear someone trying to talk through the mirror. "Amanda… He… Help us."

Recognizing the voice, Amanda gets to her feet, and rushes to the mirror. "M-Mother! I'm here!"

"Help us… we were taken captive by…" Suddenly, the image fades, but the flickering continues.

"Mom!" Amanda falls to her knees, and pounds her fists into the mirror. "Mom!" Amanda looks around the room, and sees Jaden run by one of the windows. She gets up and runs to the door. Amanda sees Kitty helping Jaden to his feet. She runs up to Kitty and grabs her by the arm. "Come on, lets go!"

"Whoa!"

Kurt sees Amanda and Kitty running towards one of the wagon. He dodges attacking demons, teleporting his way across the battle.

Amanda with Kitty by the hand runs straight for the flickering mirror. "Start phasing!" Amanda orders.

"What! Amanda what are you doing!"

Kurt teleports into the doorway just as the girls dive towards the mirror. Kurt lunges forward, and grabs a hold of Kitty's ankle. The three teens are sucked into the mirror, and the flickering stops.

**:Xavier Institute, Bayville New York:**

A window in a darkened room is slowly slides open. As the cold night air creeps into the room, Gambit climbs through the window. He places one foot on the floor, and is about to pull his other leg through the window when a lamp clicks on. Gambit's foot gets hung up on the windowsill, which causes him to fall to the floor.

"You missed Dinner." Says a feminine voice.

Gambit looks up to see Rogue sitting in a chair across the room. "Gambit never misses a meal Cher, you know dat."

"So, where have you been since 3 am in the morning?"

"Out Cher"

"What d'ya mean out!"

"Gambit had to meet wit an ol… acquaintance."

"You can't keep doing this swamp rat. I'm not going to sit here while ya run around at all hours of the night doing god knows what."

"But you are here now Cher." Says Gambit as he moves in close to Rogue.

"Don't you try to use that damn Cajun charm of yours on me. It's not going to get you out of trouble this time."

"But Cher…"

"Don't But Cher me!"

"Cut Gumbo some slack Rogue, he was out with me." Rogue turns around to see Logan standing in the doorway. "He was helping me check the security perimeter."

Rogue turns around and punches Gambit in the arm. "Damn Swamp Rat why didn't you just tell me!"

"What can Gambit say, he likes it when Cher is angry."

"Argh! Why do I bother." Rogue leaves the room in a huff. She storms down the hall on her way to her room.

Gambit takes a long look at Logan, not really sure why he covered for him. "Why did you lie for Gambit?"

"Even though most of the time that you two are together, she's holler'n at ya, I've never seen her as happy as she has been since you moved in." Logan explains as he walks up to Gambit. "I figure that, for her sake, I can cover for ya this time… but you better not be up to anything Gumbo. If you do anything to hurt her or if you put her, or anyone of these kids into any sort of danger, I will TAKE YOU OUT! Have a nice night"

Gambit stands in the middle of his room with a perplexed expression on his face. Gambit shakes his head, goes to close the door to his room. He locks the door, and takes off his coat. He drops his coat on the bed, which hits the bed with a strange heaviness. Gambit goes into his closet. He reaches up to push aside a lose panel, and pulls down a gym bag. He takes it over to the bed, and plops it next to his coat. Gambit rummages through his coat, and pulls out several pieces of jewelry, and three stacks of $100 bills. He opens the gym bag to show even more $100 bricks. Gambit puts the money in the bag with the rest, and closes the bag. He then heaves the gym bag over his shoulder, and takes it back to the closet. His stash safe, Gambit turns off the light, and plops down on his bed and settles in for the night.

**:Limbo Dimension:**

Amanda , Kitty, and Kurt come barreling through a mirror. They hit the ground hard, and it takes them a minute to come to their senses. Kurt hesitantly gets up from the floor, and surveys the surroundings. They are in a huge gothic style room lit by torches along the walls. Kurt sees an embroidered throne in the far end of the room. "Were are we?"

Kurt turns suddenly when he hears footsteps coming from somewhere in the room.

"Ow! That was not a very soft landing." Amanda groans as Kitty helps her to her feet.

"Quiet…" Kurt whispers as he uses his keen hearing to track down the mysterious footsteps. Kitty is about the say something, when she is interrupted by a puff of sulfuric smoke. Kitty and Amanda look around the room, and suddenly hear a feminine shout from the shadows on the far end of the room. The two girls run in the direction of the shout, and see Kurt and a robed figure tumble out of the shadows. Kurt pins the mysterious figure, and pulls back their hood.

Amanda recognizes the person instantly from across the room, and runs to her side. "Mom!"

Kurt gets off of Mrs. Sefton, and helps her to her feet. "Err, Sorry Mrs. Sefton."

"It's okay Kurt, I'm just glad that you three got my message." Says Mrs. Sefton before she is almost tacked by Amanda.

"What happened at the camp?" Amanda immediately asks.

"Belasco's demons… I don't know how, but they just appeared everywhere." Says Mrs. Sefton as she hugs her daughter. "We fought them off as best we could, but there wer too many of them. They must have come through the tear like the one in Kitty's bathroom."

"Oh mom, I was so worried." Amanda embraces her mother.

Something doesn't seem quite right with Kurt. Kitty notices Kurt's pensive demeanor, and quietly ask him about it. "Kurt is there some thing wrong?"

"I don't know Kitty."

"Something is bothering you, so what is it?"

"Well, I was with Amanda when she and the Professor talked to her mother. No one ever mentioned that a demon came into the Institute through a tear in your bathroom."

"Oh relax Kurt, It had to have come up and you just missed it. Right now, we have to figure out how to get out of here, and back to the camp."

Kurt hesitantly shrugs it off, and joins Kitty, Amanda and Mrs. Sefton.

"Mrs. Sefton, Where are the rest of the Gypsies?" Asks Kitty.

"And Grandmother?" Amanda adds. "Is she okay?"

"They are in the dungeon three floors down. Belasco didn't know I could teleport, so I escaped from the dungeon, and made my way to the mirror where I tried to call for help. Amanda, do you still have the pendant?"

"Yeah, why?" Amanda asks slightly confused. "Good give it to me, we can use it to escape."

"Mrs. Sefton, can we escape from here through the mirror?" Asks Kitty.

"No!" Mrs. Sefton says forcefully which is a bit surprising to the three teens. "The only way out of Limbo is with the pendant."

"Well, what about the others in the dungeon?" Kurt asks. "Shouldn't we try to rescue them?"

"They are too heavily guarded, and besides, we can't let Belasco get his hands on the Soulsword, so give the pendant."

Amanda hesitantly takes the chain from around her neck and hands it over to her mother. Mrs. Sefton looks at the pendant with a strange glint in her eye before suddenly becoming very angry. "The gem! Where is the gem! The pendant won't work without it."

"I have it Mrs. Sefton." Says Kurt. "but, I think that we should try to rescue the others."

"No, we have to leave now!" Mrs. Sefton insists as she lashes out at the chain around Kurt's neck.

"MOM! What's wrong with you?"

"Mrs. Sefton, please calm down, I know that what happened to you and the gypsies was terrib…" Suddenly, Kurt is blasted across the room and into a pillar by an energy blast. Amanda and Kitty are in shock as they watch Mrs. Sefton leap across the room to where Kurt lays among the rubble. She reaches down and picks up Kurt with one hand. She grabs the gem with her other hand, and yanks the chain from around his neck before tossing Kurt aside like a rag doll.

"MOM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Amanda yells.

Kitty looks around and notices that demons appear out of the shadows, and start circling around them. "Amanda, this is not looking good."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty sees a flash of light. When she looks up, she sees Amanda teleport in right next to her mother. "Mom why are you doing this?"

Mrs. Sefton glances over at her daughter, and slaps her across the face. "Silly little bitch! If I had such a pathetic weakling for a daughter, I would have drowned you as a baby."

Amanda looks up from the ground on the brink of tears as Mrs. Sefton places the gem into the pendant. The Soulsword glows brightly as it dangles from the chain. Its glow intensifies as Mrs. Sefton places the pendant around her neck. Amanda's expression of sorrow slowly becomes one of terror when she looks up at her mother. Mrs. Sefton starts to increase in size, and he clothes morph into dark purple robes. Her face begins to distort, and to Amanda's horror, Belasco now stands towering over her.

Belasco looks across the room at a surrounded Kitty, then to Kurt lying unconscious. He makes a slight gesture, and one of the walls fades away to reveal the real Mrs. Sefton, Amanda's grandmother, and the rest of the gypsies in individual holding pens. Belasco looks over at the gypsies with a wry grin on his face. "You all thought that you could imprison me in Limbo forever, but now I have the means to my escape." Belasco then addresses Amanda's grandmother directly. "And as for you, Szardos you gypsy bitch. You cursed me to hell, so now watch as I kill you're little girl."

"No!" Calls out Mrs. Sefton as Belasco creates a large ball of energy in his hands, and holds it high above his head. Amanda closes her eyes when suddenly she hears an explosion. She opens her eyes to see Kurt clinging on to Belasco's back. Kurt flails about as he holds on to Belasco. Kurt maneuvers his way onto Belasco's shoulders, and then wraps his talk around Belasco's throat.

While the demons rush towards Belasco and Kurt, Kitty runs to cages. She phases the locks off of the cages and frees the gypsies. Lead by Mrs. Sefton, the gypsies start to attack the demons.

Kitty rushes to help Kurt, while Mrs. Sefton blasts her way through rows of demons towards her daughter. "Amanda!" Before Mrs. Sefton can reach her daughter, she is overwhelmed by the savage demons. Amanda sees her mother being backed into a corner, and Teleports to her side. Amanda grabs hold of her hand, but before she can teleport again, a demon jumps onto Amanda's back, pinning her against a wall. Amanda looks around at the already weakened and outnumbered gypsies being beaten by the hordes of demons. Amanda looks down at her hands, which have strangely begun to glow.

Kitty and Kurt are fighting Belasco as best they can, but he is just too strong for them. Kitty tries to immobilize him by phasing his feet into the ground, but Belasco just blasts free before sending another blast right at her. She starts phasing, and the blast flies right through her. Kurt teleports onto Belasco's back, and pulls his cape over his head, and then knocks him to the ground. Kitty phases his hands into the ground, but just like before, he just blasts free. Kurt jumps and tries to land a kick but instead falls to the ground when an explosion from the other side of the room blows him over. He looks up to see a huge explosion, and demons go flying everywhere. Next, he sees a blast come out of nowhere to send Belasco flying. Kitty and Mrs. Szardos help Kurt to his feet. He looks up to see Amanda with glowing hands walk through the haze of the battle. Belasco gets back up to his feet only to be blasted again by Amanda.

"Like Whoa! Where did that come from." Exclaims Kitty.

"She has tapped into, and is channeling the Winding Way." Says Mrs. Szardos.

Amanda lets out a yell as she flings another energy blast at Belasco. Demons try to attack her, but are just sent flying by a mere gesture from Amanda.

Amanda's eyes start to glow as she raises her hands above her head. She gathers up a giant ball of energy. Amanda looks down at Belasco, and throws the energy ball down upon Belasco. Kurt and Kitty shield their eyes from a giant explosion.

Kitty and Kurt dust themselves off, and help Mrs. Szardos to her feet. Amanda's silhouette comes through the haze. She appears to be exhausted, and could easily be knocked over by a stiff breeze. Kurt squints his eyes and sees a large figure stand up out of the rubble. "Amanda!"

Amanda turns around and is grabbed by the throat. Kurt Kitty, and the gypsies look on. Belasco reaches up and grabs the Soulsword pendant from around his neck. "I grow weary of this game. With the Soulsword, I will leave Limbo, and you gypsies can rot here for eternity. He starts to chant an incantation, but is interrupted by Kurt who teleports right in front of him, and kicks him in the face. Belasco drops Amanda, and Mrs. Sefton and a few of the gypsies grab her and pull her unconscious body to safety.

Belasco knocks Kurt out of the way, and starts chanting again. Kitty then jumps out of a wall. She phases through Belasco and takes the Soulsword from him. Kitty lands on the ground, and opens her hand, but to her surprise, the pendant has disappeared. Kurt rushes over to Kitty's side. "Kitty where is the pendant? Give it to Mrs. Szardos, and she can get us all out of here."

"I-I don't have it… I don't now what happed to it."

Belasco grabs Kurt from behind, and throws him across the room. Kurt teleports inches from the wall, and Bamfs safely in the ground.

"Where is the pendant!" Belasco's voice booms as he stands over Kitty. The Gypsies come to her aid, and start furiously attacks Belasco. Belasco defends himself from attack, and starts throwing blasts back at them. With just a few balls of energy, Belasco is able to knock out almost all of the Gypsies. Kurt charges at Belasco, but to his surprise, Belasco suddenly falls to his knees and lets out a blood-curdling yell. Kurt looks around in confusion, wondering what is causing this. Kitty's head then pops out from behind Belasco. "This is it!" She yells.

Belasco doubles over and everyone can now see that Kitty has her hands phased into Belasco's back. "Who says that book work doesn't have a place in fighting? These are your Kidneys!" Kitty smirks uncharacteristically while Belasco writhes in pain on the ground. Kitty moves her hand higher up on Belasco's back. "These are your lungs!" Belasco rises up onto his knees and starts to wheeze and cough violently as he gasps for air.

Kurt stands in complete shock as he watches Kitty torture Belasco with almost childlike glee.

"Kitty what are you doing!" Yells Kurt who rushes to her side. "Stop this, he's beaten." Kurt places his hand on her shoulder. Kitty quickly pulls one of her hands out of Belasco, and slaps his hand away. "Why should I stop, Shouldn't he be made to suffer after all that he has done!"

"Kitty, this isn't like you." Kurt stands flabbergasted.

Kitty, with one hand still phased into Belasco, looks over her shoulder at Kurt. Kitty gets a dark scowl on her face. Kurt is startled as Belasco lets out one last yell before falling lifeless to the ground. Kurt is horrified when Kitty turns around to reveal that she has Belasco's heart in her hand. The remaining blood spurts out of the ventricles, and trickles into her hand and down her arm. A puddle of blood begins to pool at their feet. Kitty looks Kurt Square in the eye, and drops the heart. The heart lands in the pool of blood, and splashes blood up into the air. Kitty walks past Kurt, and whispers something as she passes him by. "People Change"

**:Gypsy Camp Somewhere in Germany:**

Jaden, Jubilee, Tabitha, Amara, and Storm are battered, cornered and surrounded by demons. Their attempt to make a moat of Lava was only able to hold the demons off for only a short while. For a time it appeared that they were safe, then in an unexpected move, a group of demons dove into the lava, allowing the others to run across on a bridge of their bodies.

"Storm, fly the girls out of here." Commands Jaden.

"No Jaden, we are all leaving here together." Says Storm as she sends three demons flying with the use of a cyclone.

The demons all charge towards them when suddenly, one of the overturned wagons implodes. A large standing mirror floats where the wagon once was, and is acting like a vortex. The demons are lifted off of their feet, and go flying into the mirror. Many of the demons try to hold on to objects to avoid being sucked into the vortex. They leave giant claw marks in the ground as they are dragged into the mirror. After the last demon begrudgingly flies into the mirror, the vortex stops, and the mirror gently drops down onto the ground. A bright light emanates from the mirror, and then Kurt, Amanda, and Kitty step through followed by Amanda's grandmother, Mrs. Sefton, and the other Gypsies. Once the last gypsy steps through, the light flickers and finally goes out. Amanda then picks up a rock and smashes the mirror.

Two days later, the gypsies are well on their way to returning their camp back to the way it was. Storm and the kids stayed to help the gypsies fix up their camp, and are now saying their goodbyes and readying the jet for take off. Much to Amanda's delight, he mother had decided to return to Bayville with the jet. However, try as she might, she was unable to convince her grandmother to leave her home with the gypsies. While Amanda was busy saying goodbye to her grandmother, Kurt's mind was preoccupied with darker thoughts.

The sight of what Kitty did became ingrained into Kurt's memory. He could not believe that Kitty was capable of such a thing. He kept replaying the event over and over again in his mind. What troubles Kurt the most was that Kitty seemed unfazed by what she did. When they returned from Limbo with the gypsies, Ororo noticed the blood on Kitty's clothes. Kitty calmly walked right by Ororo and the others straight to the jet to wash up and change. Ororo asked Kurt about what happened, but he was still in too much shock to answer. Once Kitty got cleaned up, it was obvious that she was not hurt, so Ororo let the issue drop. However, Kurt's uncharacteristic mood still worried Ororo.

"Alright everyone, time to go." Calls out Ororo before she boards the jet.

Amanda, her mother and grandmother say their final goodbyes. Over the last two days, Tabitha and Amara had made more than a few friends among the boys of the camp. Amara was a bit embarrassed by all the attention, but Tabitha reveled in it. Jaden and Jubilee stood next to the Jet ramp waiting for the others. Jubilee is startled by a pathetic yelp from Jaden as Kitty walks by the two Asian teens.

"What happened?" Asks a confused Jubilee as she looks over at Jaden.

"Kitty…" Jaden looks over his shoulder at Kitty who looks back at Jaden and winks.

"What about her?"

"I think she pinched my butt." Says Jaden to which Jubilee giggles.

"You must of imagined it, she probably just bumped into you." Says Jubilee as they walk up the ramp followed by a melancholy Kurt.

It was a long ride home for Kurt. Jaden expressed an interest in learning how to fly, so he let him sit up in the cockpit, and Kurt was in the back with the rest of the kids. He sat in silence the whole flight, occasionally stealing glimpses of Kitty sitting on the opposite side of the plane. Kurt is lost in his thoughts as he gazes out the window. He doesn't even notice that Amanda has sat down next to him. "Hey you, penny for your thoughts?"

Kurt is startled a little when he hears Amanda's voice. He turns ever so slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Hello Amanda."

"Kurt, what is wrong? You've been moody ever since we got back from Limbo."

"It's nothing Liebe. It was just a really rough battle. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Belasco is dead Kurt, we don't have to worry about him coming after us again. Doesn't that make you feel relieved?"

Kurt turns around to face Amanda, and looks at her with a dark expression. "Do you know how he died?"

"No" Amanda says sheepishly as she looks at a face that the normally jovial Kurt has never made before.

"I don't care what he has done, or how many people he has killed, I wouldn't wish that fate anyone, even Apocalypse."

"Kurt… H-How did Belasco die?" Amanda asks hesitantly. "Was it something Kitty that did?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Kurt, she was covered in blood after the battle yet she wasn't seriously injured."

"Drop it Amanda… Don't ever bring it up again… You must never tell anyone! Promise me Amanda! Promise that you'll never tell anyone. Not even the Professor!"

Amanda is deeply troubled by Kurt's behavior. "Okay Kurt, if you say so."

"Promise me! Say I swear!"

"Okay Kurt I swear."

The rest of the flight, Kurt and Amanda sit in awkward silence. The hours pass by, and Amanda wanted to know what could have happened to have such an effect on Kurt. She looked over at Kitty who was intently and quietly reading a book. For some reason, whatever it was that happened had more of an effect on Kurt than it did Kitty. Despite the fact that she came out of the fight covered with blood, Kitty seemed no different that she had been before. Amanda is startled when Kitty glances up from her book, and looks right at Amanda. She gives Amanda a reassuring smile, then puts down her book and gets up from her seat.

Kitty makes her way through the rows of seats on her way to the restroom. Tabitha, and Amara were busy yammering about some of the cute gypsy boys while Jubilee sat next to them intently listening to them. Mrs. Sefton, somewhat battle weary from her experience, was sound asleep in her seat in the back of the plane. Kitty approaches the door to the rest room and enters. Once inside, she locks the door behind her, and takes a long look at herself in the mirror. She has a few scratches on her face. Kitty looks down and pulls up her sleeves to show various bruises, which she had gotten during the battle. She turns on the water, and allows it to pool in her hands. She quickly brings it up to her face and letting the cool water wash over her face. She places her hands on the basin, and leans on the counter top. Kitty closes her eyes, and tilts her head back slightly. Suddenly, the Soulsword pendant seems to phase out of her skin, and now hangs on a chain around her neck. Kitty opens her eyes, and looks at her reflection in the mirror. A strange fire seems to glint in her eyes as the shadows seem to comedown, and mask her face.

Kitty is jarred from her trance when the jet shakes slightly followed by Jaden's voice over the intercom.

"Err… Umm… Attention Uh… passengers, we have begun our decent. Please return to your seats and… and stuff… Bye."

Kitty can hear Tabitha and Amara laughing, no doubt poking fun at Jubilee. Kitty Closes her eyes, and the pendant along with the chain phases into her skin. Kitty leaves the restroom, and returns to her seat.

Within the next half hour, the Blackbird has come to a stop in the Institute's hanger. The Professor, Hank, Scott, Jean and Logan along with the boys who appear a little worse from wear after their wilderness training with Logan. As the ramp lowers so that everyone can disembark, Logan instructs the boys to help unload the jet. Ororo is the first to disembark from the jet, and is pleasantly welcomed by Xavier and Hank.

"I see that you survived you adventure" Remarks Hank.

"Yes, an adventure I would have preferred not to have had." Sighs Ororo. "I think that you will be surprised to know that the kids handled themselves very adeptly. Especially Jaden."

"Although this was not exactly what I had in mind, I assumed that Jaden would be able to handle himself well if he had to." Says the professor.

"Professor…" Ororo's mood turns somber. "I think that you need to have a talk with Kurt. Something happened that he refuses to tell me about, and he is not his usual self."

Jaden walks down the ramp followed by the Jubilee, Tabby, and Amara. He looks over at the talking adults, then goes over to help the other boys unload the jet. Kitty is looking through the various bags for hers. Jaden sees it set aside from the pile, picks it up and gives it her. "Thanks Jaden" says kitty before giving him a coy wink. Just then, Rogue walks into the hanger. Jaden watches as Kitty walks up to her and gives her a hug. Just over Rogues shoulder, Jaden sees something that he could not believe. At first he thinks that he is hallucinating, but Jaden soon realizes that it is he.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the hanger, Jaden starts to fill with rage. She slowly makes his way through the group.

"Hey Jaden" Says Jamie. "How was the trip?"

Jaden is oblivious to anything in the hanger. His pace starts to quicken as he stalks his target. Sam and Roberto look over at Jaden and start to wonder what he is doing when Jaden suddenly breaks into a full sprint. Rogue's eyes open wide as Jaden charges right at her. She is about to yell when Jaden drops down into a shadow on the floor. Rogue and Kitty look around, confused, when suddenly; Jaden drops down out of a shadow, knocking Gambit to the floor. "MURDERER!"

The two girls looks puzzled as Jaden and Gambit roll around on the floor.

"Fight! Fight!" Yells Jamie as Jaden positions himself on top of Gambit and punches him several times. Gambit throws the smaller Jaden off of him, and Jaden disappears into a shadow. He comes flying out of another shadow, and continues his onslaught. As skilled as Gambit it, Jaden is just too fast for him. It takes everything that he can to block and dodge every kick and punch that Jaden throws. Rogue and Kitty try to grab a hold of Jaden, but before they know what hit them, Jaden has slipped from their grasp. The boys however are enjoying the show and Bobby starts taking bets that Gambit will beat the crap out of Jaden.

Jean rushes over and uses her telepathy to hold Jaden in mid air. Seeing an opening, Gambit punches Jaden in the face. Jean is startled by this, and drops Jaden to the ground. Jaden doesn't miss a step, and lunges at Gambit. He kicks Gambit's legs out from under him, and before Gambit even hits the floor, Jaden follows with another kick that sends Gambit flying. Jaden leaps high into the air, and with a flick of his wrist, he pulls out his butterfly knife. Scott tries to shoot Jaden down with an optic blast, but Jaden easily dodges it with a flip, and drops down on Gambit plunging his knife into Gambit's heart. The girls yell at the sight of Gambit coughing up blood. Jaden stands up and looks down at his fallen prey.

"Jaden what have you done!" Yells Jubilee.

Jaden looks over at her, but is then sent flying by one of Scott's optic blasts.

"Jean quickly! Help me move Gambit to the infirmary." Yells Hank.

Gambit's eyes start to glow bright red, and his body begins to convulse. Suddenly, the Blackbird starts to glow as it charged by Gambit's power. The kids all look at it confused because Gambit was nowhere near the jet.

"Get out of the hanger!" Yells Rogue. "The jet is going to explode!"

Everyone runs out of the hanger as fast as they can. The last of the kids have just made it out when the jet explodes sending flames and smoke into the hallways, and blowing large holes in the adjoining walls.

* * *

I hope that this chapter was worth the wait. Enjoy, and please don't forget to review. 


	18. Shadow Realm

Thank you to mazdamiatta, marajade963, Hawaiichick, and Raven-takes-flight for reviewing. A writer always likes to hear that their work is enjoyed. Tell your friends. :)

Insert funny worded, grammatically incorrect disclaimer here:

* * *

**:Xavier Institute Infirmary:**

Rogue stands outside of the Institute's operating room. Occasionally, she sneaks glimpses through the large observation window, but the sight of Gambit flayed out on the operating table on the brink of death overwhelms her, and she quickly looks away. Kitty was hesitant about keeping her company outside the operating room, but came down to avoid the constant "How is Rogue handling it?" questions. When Kitty came down, Rogue didn't seem too interested in talking, and that was fine with Kitty. Rogue was in her spot next to the observation window, and Kitty was sitting on one of the chairs that were down the hall.

Aside from the obvious knife stinking out of his chest, Gambit also suffered a broken rib at the hands of Jaden, which punctured one of his lungs. Gambit was in bad shape, and Dr. McCoy had to call in few friends from the Bayville Hospital to assist with the surgery. Had they not had medical facilities on premises to stabilize him, Gambit would surely have died on his way to the hospital if he were anywhere else.

Gambit had already been in surgery for three hours, and it didn't look like he was going to be getting out anytime soon. Rogue was exhausted, and emotionally drained. She finally gave into her fatigue, and walked towards Kitty and the row of chairs lining the hallway. Rogue quietly sat down next to Kitty, and rested her head on Kitty's shoulder.

**:Professor Xavier's Office:**

Ororo, Scott, Jean, and Kurt have gathered around the Professor's desk. The kids are still in shock for the most part, especially Kurt. He so wanted to be with his stepsister in the infirmary, but there were other things that needed to taken care of first. Namely why Jaden attacked Gambit, and, of course, what to do about Jaden.

When Gambit arrived, at the Institute, the rest of the X-men looked upon him with a wary eye. Just based on his relationship with Rogue, Ororo, Jean and the Professor gave him the benefit of the doubt, but Scott and Kurt on the other hand were suspicious of his true intentions. The fact that he was sneaking around with his sister never sat well with Kurt, but he always tried to respect Rogue's privacy. The others were discussing that day's events, but Kurt's thoughts were with his sister. He stared blankly at the wall when he was jarred from his trance by Jean's hand on his shoulder.

"I know that this must be very hard on you Kurt." Says the Professor reassuringly. "It's hard on all of us, but I need you to focus on the matter at hand."

"Yes, I know Professor." Apologizes Kurt. "I'm, sorry."

"As a senior member of the team, I want you, Scott, and Jean involved in this decision"

"I'm not condoning his actions Professor," says Scott, "but Jaden doesn't seem like the cold blooded killer type. I mean, even his fight with Bobby wasn't really his fault. Bobby was the instigator. "

"Yes, but based on the short work that Jaden made of Gambit, he could have easily killed Bobby if he wanted." Jean adds. "Lets not forget that Jaden pulled his knife on Bobby too. Whose to say that he doesn't lose it again and kill someone."

"Every one of the residents here at the Institute has the ability to kill with just a thought. Each of us walks a fine line." Replies the Professor. "As mutants, if we ever lose control, killing is the least of our worries."

"But that is the thing Charles, Jaden almost lost control before with Bobby, and he lost control today in the hanger." Says a concerned Ororo.

"What do you think we should do Ororo?"

"Well…" Ororo looks out the window as she contemplates things for a moment. "I think that Jaden is a very impressive young man, and given some time, he could be a valuable asset to the Institute. But what can we do about Jaden?"

"She's right Professor, it's not like we can call the cops on him" says Scott. "And what about Gambit? Why did Jaden yell "Murderer!" before attacking him? I don't think that we have the entire story here. Gambit did work for Magneto after all, who knows what he might have been involved with in his past. Do we really know anything about Gambit?"

"We know as much about Gambit as we do about Jaden." Says Jean. "Besides, it probably doesn't even matter anyway Professor. To the police it would just be a mutant on mutant crime"

"I decided awhile ago that the police are out of the question. As far as I am concerned, Jaden will always have a home here as long as he wants it…"

"Well he can't let him walk free!" Scott interrupts. "I'm not exactly Gambit's biggest fan, but I'm not about to let a killer walk free"

"Then, it seems that Jaden stays." Comments the Professor. "Ororo?"

"I think that the boy does have a lot of potential, but I think that if he stays, he is a danger to himself and the other students. We should do everything that we can to help him, but it would be irresponsible of us to keep him around the other students."

"Scott, You are the leader of the team, and this decision concerns two of the people under you."

"I think that the kid needs to be locked up, but there's no way that he's going to get a fair trial as a mutant. I agree with Ororo, I don't think that he should be allowed with the rest of the students. I don't know what we are going to do with him, be he can't stay here."

"Has anyone even considered that Jaden won't want to hang around after what happened?" Jean jumps in. "Chances are, Jaden is going to try to get out of here the first chance he gets."

"At this point," Says the Professor, "We have to assume responsibility for the boy. I have no doubt that Jaden will try to escape, but for now, he is one of my charges, and he will remain as such until he leaves the Institute."

"I think that he should stay." Says Jean "The team didn't give up on me or Rogue when we lost control of our powers. We didn't give up on you and Storm when we fought Apocalypse, and we shouldn't give up on Jaden."

"Kurt?" says Professor Xavier as he looks to the morose, fur-covered boy.

"I-I…" Kurt stammers as he gathers his thoughts. Kurt sits quietly for a few seconds. "I trust Rogue Professor! If Rogue trusts Gambit, then I trust Gambit. As for Jaden… We have all done things that we are not proud of. You didn't give up on us Professor, and you shouldn't give up on Jaden. He deserves the same opportunity that you gave all of us. If he's willing, I think that he should be allowed to stay."

"Very well then." Says Professor Xavier. "If Jaden wishes to stay, then he will be allowed to stay, but there is still the matter of why Jaden attacked Gambit, which needs to be addressed. However, there is not much we can do about that at the moment, and I'm sure that Kurt is not the only one who wants to check on Rogue and Gambit."

Before Professor Xavier has the chance to move away from his desk, Kurt teleports out of the room, leaving Jean, who was sitting in the chair next to him, fanning sulfuric smoke away from her face.

**:Xavier Institute Infirmary:**

Kitty and Rogue sit in the hallway outside the operating room waiting to hear any news about Gambit's condition. Kitty sits in awkward silence not really knowing what to do. Rogue was still resting her head on Kitty's shoulder. Her harm has fallen asleep, but Kitty was worried that Rogue would want to talk about what happened if Kitty said anything. Kitty quietly wiggled her fingers in an attempt to circulate the blood in her arm.

Suddenly, Kitty sees Piotr turn the corner, and proceed to walk dawn the hall towards the two girls. Rogue hears the sound of footsteps, and quickly sits up in her seat to see who it is. When she sees that it is Piotr, and not Beast or one of the other doctors, Rogue disappointedly slouches down in her seat.

"Err ummm, how is Comrade Remy?" Piotr stammers in his heavy Russian accent.

"No news yet" Perks up Kitty as she gives Piotr the once over. "They… They-uh, are still operating on him." Kitty says as she grabs Piotr by the arm and pulls him into the seat next to her.

Rogue is oblivious to Kitty's overt flirtations with Piotr, and continues to slouch in her seat. Suddenly, a puff of sulfuric smoke explodes into the hallway as Kurt teleports in. The three teens burst into a fit of coughing.

"Damnit Kurt!" Rogue expounds as she gets up from her seat and walks away.

As the smoke clears, Kurt watches Rogue walk away. Kurt looks over at Kitty who is sitting next to Piotr with her arm wrapped around his. This is a rather odd sight to Kurt, particularly the pathetic "Help Me" expression on Piotr's face. Normally Kurt would take this opportunity to tease Kitty or cause some other kind of mischief, but at the moment, Kurt is concerned with more important things.

Kurt looks down the hall and sees that Rogue is leaning with her back to the observation window. Kurt cautiously walks towards Rogue.

"So uh, how are ya holding up?" Kurt says hesitantly.

Rogue looks over at Kurt whom currently has a very meek expression on his face. She knows that he is only there out of concern for her. It was obvious to her that Kurt never really trusted Gambit, but she knew that he had the best of intentions. Rogue continues to stair at the floor when the operating room doors swing open. Rogue immediately stands up straight and faces and obviously fatigued Dr. McCoy.

"Mr. McCoy, is he…" Rogue blurts out before Hank stops her by holding up his hand. Piotr and Kitty soon join Kurt and Rogue with Dr. McCoy.

Hank removes his mask, his fur matted from sweat. "The good news is that we have stabilized his condition." He says as he removes his cap, and ruffles his hair, which is wilder than usual. "However, he has a fight ahead of him. He lost a lot of blood, and he is currently on a respirator because one of his lungs was punctured by a broken rib."

Rogue's eyes begin to tear up. "Is he…."

"I'm sorry Rogue, he's in a coma at the moment, and it's all up to him right now. He's in bad shape, and it all depends on whether or not he has the will to pull though."

"Can-Can I see him?" Rogue asks as Kurt supportively rubs her back.

"Yes, but only a few minutes. He is very prone to infection right now, so you won't be able to stay long. They are moving him right now, so you can go in a few minutes."

Moments later, Rogue slowly steps into the room that they have moved Gambit into. The sound of the respirator startles Rogue upon first entering the room. Soon, the sounds of the various pieces of hospital equipment rhythmically join the respirator. Rogue looks at Gambit lying in the bed. Wires connect him to the various apparatuses, which are currently keeping him alive. His chest, unnaturally moving up and down as the respirator pumps oxygen into his weakened lungs.

Rogue can't bear to look at him in his current state. Her eyes well up with tears, as she turns away, and runs out of the room. Rogue double doors to the infirmary fly open as Rogue bursts into the hallway, almost knocking Kurt over. Hank had gone to brief the Professor as to Gambit's condition, and Kitty had managed to drag Piotr off somewhere.

Rogue places her hand against the wall, as she tries to catch her breath. Kurt warily comes up behind her, and places his hand on her shoulder. "A-Are you alright Rogue?"

"Alright! What the Fuck do you think Kurt!"

"I-I know that you're probably…"

"You don't know anything! You know what I want to do Kurt? I want to kill him! I want to kill Jaden! It would be so easy too." Rogue says while holding her gloved hand in front of Kurt. "Just one touch, and he's dead."

This seriously disturbed Kurt. He had never seen Rogue like this before, and it scared him. "Rogue you can't mean that. You're not a killer."

"That's what we all thought about Jaden, and look what he did! Did Jaden look like a killer before he did what he did?"

"Rogue, you're stressed, and you some rest, now come on, I'll teleport you to your room."

"I'm sorry Kurt, I-I have to do this." To Kurt's surprise, Rogue leans over, and kisses him on the cheek. Kurt immediately falls to the ground, as Rogue teleports, leaving a cloud of smoke in her wake.

Just as the smoke starts to clear from the hallway, a small pink glowing ball of light comes out of Gambit's room. The ball hovers over Kurt for a moment as if it were looking at him before floating down the hall and disappearing around the corner.

**:Professor Xavier's Office:**

Hank had just arrived to the office where he is now briefing the Professor on Gambit's condition. Professor X had sent Scott and Jean to check on the other kids while he and Storm met with Hank.

"He is stable for the moment, but he's got a long hard fight ahead of him Charles."

"How sever was his injuries?" Asks Ororo.

"Well, aside from the stab wound," Hank ruffles his hair. "He had a broken rib, and a punctured lung. However, I don't think that Jaden was the sole reason why Gambit's rib broke."

"What do you mean?" Asks the Professor. "Are you saying that he injured it earlier?"

"Not exactly. Although Gambit is in peak physical shape, his body seems to be burning out. His bones weren't brittle, but for some reason, they were in such a state that it really didn't take much for Jaden to break it."

"Could he be suffering from sort of degenerative illness?" Asks the Professor.

"No, but based upon what I have seen during the surgery, I believe that his powers may be the cause. When we got him to the infirmary, his temperature was running incredibly hot, and the amount of energy radiating from his body proved very problematic during the surgery. Judging from the rate of deterioration on his body, this had been happening for weeks, and it would have been impossible for this to go unnoticed to him. He knew this was happening to him, and for some reason, he didn't want us to know about it."

"Are you saying…" adds Ororo.

"Yes, Gambit was dying." Says Hank. "If he does pull through, he'll maybe have a month to live before his body finally gives out."

"Is there any thing that we can do for him?" Asks the Professor.

"Not while he's in a coma," Answers Hank. "But then again, he may never awaken from that coma."

"Do you have any idea what may be causing this?" Asks Ororo.

"I have a hypothesis." Hank rubs his chin. " One of my initial scans found something rather curious. It seems that our Cajun friend has a microchip in his head. I was unable to determine what it's function was if any, but there is heightened brain activity in the area that the chip was implanted."

"Could you remove it?" The Professor rests his right elbow on his desk, and touching his hand to his face in a pensive manner.

"I could, but at this moment, that chip maybe the only thing keeping his body from exploding. I will have to study it further before attempting to do anything."

"Very well Hank." Says the Professor. "I suggest that you get some rest before pursuing this mystery. We'll need you sharp if we hope to get to the bottom of this."

"I'll try Charles." Hank stands up, and makes his way towards the door before stopping, and turning slightly. "An idea comes to mind, perhaps Forge may be of some help."

"Yes, I will contact him, and ask him to come as soon as possible."

With that said, Hank and Ororo quietly leave the Professor's office.

**:Elsewhere in the Xavier Institute Infirmary:**

Logan leans back in his seat in one of the corridors of the Infirmary. Logan has his arms crossed, and his hat tipped forward covering his eyes. Without moving from his current pose, Logan sniffs the air. He slowly looks up and then with blinding reflexes, he reaches around the corner, and pulls Rogue in front of him.

"What are you doing her Stripes?"

"What do ya think I'm here for?" Rogue hisses, her makeup smeared by tears. "I'm going to kill Jaden!"

"Come on now Stripes, you're not a killer"

"Please Logan! HE DESERVES IT! He attacked Gambit for no reason! And Now Gambit is going to die!" Rogue is emotionally drained, and finally collapses into a heap at Logan's feet. She tries to hold her self up with one hand while wiping tears away from her face with the other. "Just one touch… Just one touch…" Rogue says barely above a whisper.

At that moment, Kurt teleports into the corridor next to Rogue and Logan. "Wolverine!"

"Don't worry about it Elf, she's fine. Why don't you take her to her room so that she can get some rest."

Kurt looks up at Logan who gives him a gruff yet reassuring glance. Kurt kneels down and takes Rogue's hand in his. A split second later, the two teens disappear into a puff of sulfuric smoke. Logan snorts like a bull as the smoke clears, and returns to his seat.

**:Shadow Realm:**

Jaden walks out of the darkness of his shadow realm. His clothes are rumpled as usual, and he calmly walks through his shadow realm as if nothing were wrong. Somewhere out of the darkness, screams echo all around Jaden. He looks around, and warily continues forward. Suddenly, a bright light blinds him. The sound of explosions rings out all around him. Jaden opens his eyes, and he realizes that he is 12 years old again. He looks around and realizes that he is back in the Morlock Tunnels. All the hairs on his body stand on end as a streak of fear shoots down his spine. People are running around, and Jaden starts frantically looking around for her. Suddenly Jaden is frozen in fear as a group of mutants, whom appear to be giants, stand before him. In the center of this group stands Gambit.

Gambit looks down at Jaden with his hypnotic red and black eyes. Jaden is completely petrified, yet there is something in Gambit's eyes that have a calming effect on him. All of a sudden, Jaden is grabbed from behind. Someone takes Jaden by the hand and proceeds to run away from the invading marauders. Jaden looks up to see that his older sister Jade has him by the hand. Jaden loved his sister, and with all the chaos going on around them, Jaden felt safer now that he was with her.

They weave in and out of pipes and make shift shanties that make up the Morlock tunnels. A fire has begun to tear its way through their underground village. Jaden does not dare to look back. The screaming and suffering inflicted by their attackers was palpable in the air. Jade leads her brother to an empty side tunnel where she tells him to hide behind some trash and rubble in the corner.

"Stay here Jay okay? You'll be safe here." Says Jade who is trying to reassure her younger brother.

"Don't go Jade… Stay here with me."

"I can't Jay, there are others who need my help too."

"Then I'll come with you, I can help." Jaden says with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"No Jay! I can't help anyone if I'm worried about you."

"But Jade…"

"Please Jaden, stay here. I'll come back for you I promise!" Unexpectedly, an explosion goes off right behind Jade. She drops down on top of Jaden, using her self to shield him from falling debris. Jade slowly gets up and looks over her shoulder, and then she looks back down at Jaden. Jaden looks into her hazel eyes, but then Jaden hears a loud roar. An unseen force then abruptly, pulls jade away. Jaden closes his eyes tight and tries to cover his ears but he is not able to block out the horrible sounds.

Jaden can hear the screams from his sister while some beast roars with savage pleasure as he does things that Jaden could not bring himself to look at nor try to imagine. Jade's screams continue for five agonizing minutes. Five minutes that seemed like an eternity to Jaden as he lay huddled behind some rubble only a few feet away from where his sister was being mauled. Then Jaden hears the most terrifying sound that he would ever hear. The screaming suddenly stops. The sudden silence sends terror through his bones. The silence soon becomes deafening, but then Jaden hears footsteps coming towards him. As what ever it is approaches, Jaden can hear him sniffing the air like an animal on the prowl. The great beast is almost on top of him when the shadows around Jaden extend over him. Jaden huddles in the shadows, terrified to open his eye out of fear of what he may see. The Monster that will forever haunt Jaden's dreams sniffs the area, but finds nothing. The sound of heavy footsteps begins to move away from him.

The shadows pull away from Jaden, and he musters all the courage that he has to open his eyes. He peaks over the pile of rubble, and what he sees will forever be ingrained in his memory. The entire area is blanketed with blood. The blood has pooled on the ground, and has trickled to only mere inches away from where Jaden was. Jaden hesitantly follows the trail of blood with his eyes until he sees his sister Jade lying in a pool of her own blood, her voiced garbled by the blood building in her throat, looks up at Gambit. Jaden sees him pick up a small pebble off of the ground. Gambit holds the pebble between his fingers, and the pebble starts to glow bright red. Gambit places the tiny glowing rock behind Jade's ear. A split second later, a small explosion goes off killing her. Jaden's eyes are wrecked with tears as he watches Gambit push his sister off of his lap, and hobbles off into the darkness.

"Jade…" Jaden whimpers, barely above a whisper. "Jade…" Jaden says again a little louder. "Jade…" Jaden yells. He has now returned to his present age of 14, and stands alone in the darkness of his shadow realm. Jaden, with tears streaming from his eyes falls to his knees before screaming as loud as his lungs will allow. "JADE!"

Jaden wakes up in the Xavier Institute infirmary. He is covered with sweat, and heavily panting. He tries to sit up, but finds that he is strapped down to the bed. Still disorientated, he looks around the room. It is not until he sees the equipment at his bedside that he notices that he is connected to various medical monitoring devices. The sounds of the various machines start to filter into his hearing. The rhythmic melodies of the beeps and drips only prove to cause Jaden to get more disoriented. Jaden looks towards the door to see Logan standing in the doorway.

"You know I had to practically lock Jubilee in her room to keep her out of here." Says Logan who walks into the room, and sits down in a chair next to Jaden's bed. Jaden struggles against his bindings to no avail.

"You wanna explain to me what happened in the hanger?" Asks Logan to which Jaden, refusing to look at him, just turns his head. "Look kid, I got noting else to do. I'll sit here until you start talking to me, but you're not getting out of those straps until I find out what is going on."

Jaden stares at the far wall of the room. For reasons only known to him, he refuses to say anything to Logan. As he lies in the infirmary bed, Jaden closes his eyes, and gets a very satisfied expression on his face as a lone tear rolls down his cheek.

**:Professor Xavier's Office:**

It's been a stressful day for everyone. None more so then for Professor Xavier. The events of the day weighed heavy on his shoulders. Never before had one of his charges knowingly tried to kill another resident of the Institute. After Hank and Ororo left, the Professor moves his chair to the large window in his office where he sits gazing out at the night sky.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, the Professor sees the flash of a bright pink light, which seemed to pass right through the door. The Professor is startled as his chair turns around, and is then pulled by an unseen force towards the floating ball of energy. The Professor closes his eyes, and tries to focus his thoughts in hopes of using his telekinetic power to stop the chair. Unexpectedly, Professor Xavier senses something, and opens his eye to see that he continues to move towards the bright light.

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This one was a bit toned down compared to the previous monster chapter. However, I'm sure that it was worth it because you, the reader, finally got see what happened in Jaden's past. I hope that it is worth reading through 18 chapters to find out.

So, who figured out before the last two chapters that Jaden and Gambit were connected and that the dream Jubilee saw in chapter 15 was really Jaden's Nightmare? Of course since I'm writing the story, it blatantly obvious, but I'm just curious if anyone picked up on the clues I left in the story. Well, I hope that you liked this chapter, and please leave a review.


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